Hot take: air fryers are actually older than I thought they were

I was reading an article about kitchen gadgets the other day on a site called Kitchn, and it said the first air fryer patent was filed back in 2005. That blew my mind because I always thought they just popped up like 5 years ago. I remember when my mom got her first one around 2018 and acted like it was some brand new invention. Turns out Philips had been working on the technology for over a decade before that. Makes me wonder how many other kitchen tools have been around way longer than we realize. Does anyone else get surprised by little facts like that?

3 comments

3 Comments

aaronroberts6d ago

Wait did that article say anything about how the hot air circulation technology is basically the same as what some professional convection ovens did back in the 90s? I remember reading somewhere that the first modern air fryer design was actually based on a 1990s patent from a French company called SEB that just never got popular. It kind of makes sense though since my parents had a "turbo oven" thing in the early 2000s that was basically the same concept but way bigger and uglier. The marketing is what really blew up the air fryer in my opinion not the actual tech. I think people just forgot about those old countertop convection ovens and suddenly a smaller version with a catchy name got everyone excited. Kinda funny how history repeats itself in the kitchen appliance world.

anna7176d ago

Did the article mention how the SEB patent actually had a specific basket shape that made the air move better than the old turbo ovens? I've always wondered if the real trick was less about the fan and more about how the basket was designed to bounce the heat around.

shane_wilson6d ago

@anna717 you're onto something there. I've tinkered with a few air fryers over the years and the basket shape makes a huge difference. The ones with flat bottoms don't circulate as well compared to the ones with those curved sides that kind of funnel the air back up through the food. If you ever need to fix a bad air fryer, just flip the basket upside down and look at the ridges. The good ones have channels cut into the bottom, not just a flat grate. Those old SEB patents had the basket designed so the hot air bounced off the walls and hit the food from two angles at once. That's the real secret nobody talks about.