Ninja CRISPi Microwave review: The microwave reinvention I didn't know I needed

Microwaves, generally, are used as a lazy alternative to cooking. But kitchen appliance outfit Ninja – who’s already managed to shake up both the air fryer and coffee machine categories of late with its fresh, innovative designs – has decided the ding box has far more potential than just reheating leftovers or cooking packaged junk food.

The brand’s all-new CRISPi Microwave marks its debut in the microwave category, and in true Ninja style, it’s no one-trick pony. It's a 3-in-1 appliance that combines a 1,000W flatbed microwave with a 2,000W convection air fryer and something Ninja calls “FusionCrisp” technology. This is basically a mode that starts by microwaving your food to cook it through quickly and then auto-finishes with air frying to crisp up the outside. The idea is that you get speed and crispiness from a single appliance without having to lift a finger between the two stages.

I've been using it as my main microwave for the past few weeks, and it’s safe to say it’s one of the best kitchen appliances I've tested in a long time. Here's why.

Ninja CRISPi Microwave review: price and availability

The Ninja CRISPi Microwave is available to buy now in the UK and US priced at £359.99 and $399.99 (reduced from $449.99 RRP), respectively.

At the time of writing, the UK model is currently sold out on SharkNinja's own site, with new stock expected in October 2026, but it's still available from select retailers if you move quickly.

In the US, it's available from SharkNinja, Amazon and Best Buy, but it doesn't appear to be available in Australia right now. For reference though, £359.99 converts to roughly AU$700, but there's no official local pricing or release date as of yet.

At this price, the CRISPi Microwave sits firmly in the premium microwave territory. A standard microwave will set you back anywhere from £50 to £150, so Ninja is clearly asking a lot more here. But I guess you could justify this in that the CRISPi replaces both your microwave and your air fryer, and when you factor in that a decent standalone Ninja air fryer costs around £150 to £250, the combined price starts to make more sense.

Rivals in the combination microwave space, such as the Sage Combi Microwave (around £399) and the Panasonic NN-CD87KS (around £320), offer convection functionality but lack the dedicated air frying performance that Ninja’s option brings to the table.

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Ninja CRISPi Microwave review: design and build

One of the first things you’ll notice about the CRISPi is how good it looks. It doesn't look like your typical microwave in that it boasts a sexy matte black finish with stainless steel trims, giving it a design that’s clean and modern. This is joined by a minimalist control panel on the right-hand side that sports a digital display and a handful of well-spaced buttons. It looks more like a premium built-in oven than something you'd shove in a corner to reheat baked beans, and it sits on the worktop with a lot more presence than any bog-standard microwave does.

While it looks the part, build quality is where the CRISPi Microwave really impressed me, especially coming off the back of reviewing Ninja’s Luxe Café Pro coffee machine, where the plastic construction left me feeling a bit cheated. That’s certainly not the case with the CRISPi, which, weighing in at a hefty 18.6kg, is very heavy but also super solid feeling.

Plus, everything from the door mechanism to the accessories that go inside feels robust and well engineered. That’s very reassuring to see, especially at this price, and really made me think Ninja has delivered in a way it didn't quite manage with its latest coffee machine.

The CRISPi’s flatbed design is one of my favourite things about the appliance. There's no turntable, which Ninja says gives you 20% more usable cooking space compared to a standard microwave with a 33cm plate, and having used it for a few weeks I can confirm the interior is as spacious as it sounds. The flat base also makes cleaning up spills far easier than trying to wipe around a moving turntable.

As for accessories, the included 5.2-litre CleanCrisp glass cooking dish is the star of the show. It's made from PFAS-free and PTFE-free glass, which is a nice touch considering all the concerns around non-stick coatings we hear lately. It also doubles as a prep, cook and serve dish, so you can take it straight from the microwave to the table without transferring food to a separate plate, which saves time and cuts down on washing up. Win win! I should also mention that the dish includes a crisper tray that sits inside for air frying. This works by lifting food above the base for better hot air circulation underneath. *Chef’s kiss*.

My only real design gripe is the microwave’s size. Measuring 51.5 x 44.6 x 35.8cm, the CRISPi will take up a serious chunk of worktop, so something to keep in mind. If your kitchen is on the smaller side, it's definitely worth measuring up before you commit.

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Ninja CRISPi Microwave review: performance

Let's start with the CRISPi Microwave’s FusionCrisp, because it's the headline feature and the thing I was probably most sceptical about before I started using it. The concept is straightforward enough: you select a FusionCrisp programme, the microwave kicks in first to cook the food through quickly, and then the air fryer automatically takes over to crisp up the outside. You just load the food, press go, and come back to something that's cooked through and crispy on the outside.

While it sounds like too good to be true, it actually works brilliantly. The standout test for me was jacket potatoes, which I made following the included recipe booklet on FusionCrisp mode. After about 10 minutes of microwaving followed by 10 minutes of air frying, I was left with a jacket potato that was beautifully soft and fluffy on the inside with a lovely crispy skin on the outside.

That's about 20 minutes total, compared to well over an hour in a conventional oven, and the result was just as good – maybe even better. Anyone who's ever done a microwave-only jacket potato knows the sad, floppy skin you end up with, and to get the crunch you have to go with the oven-only method, which takes forever. This FusionCrisp mode, however, gives you the best of both worlds for less time.

The thing with multi-mode appliances is that, usually, they do one or two things well, but not all of them. This isn’t the case with the CRISPi Microwave – especially the device’s standalone air fryer function, which works very well. At 2,000W with super-heated cyclonic air reaching up to 240°C, it performs on a par with a standalone Ninja air fryer, which – as anyone who has ever owned one will know – this is only good news.

After trying the Sage Combi Wave 3-in-1 earlier this year and finding its air fryer function didn’t quite live up to the standard you’d epect from a standalone option, I was pleased this wasn’t the case for the CRISPi Microwave. I cooked foods such as frozen chips, chicken drumsticks and roasted veg in it over several weeks and the results were consistently good, coming out crispy and well cooked. If you already own a separate air fryer and you're thinking about consolidating to an all-in-one appliance to save worktop space, the CRISPi Microwave’s air frying ability is definitely good enough to replace it.

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The microwave-only function deserves a mention too, because it's pretty punchy. At 1,000W, it heats food super quickly and evenly. I found it especially handy for rescuing cups of tea and coffee that had gone cold. It sounds like a small thing, but a microwave that can bring a lukewarm brew back to life in 30 seconds is worth its weight in gold, if you ask me (then again, I am Northern), and the CRISPi handles it without any fuss.

When it comes to cooking, you’ll find 14 functions across three modes (eight microwave presets, five air fry presets, plus FusionCrisp), which cover pretty much any cooking scenario you'd want. The controls are intuitive and easy to navigate, and I had the CRISPi Microwave up and running and doing exactly what I needed within minutes of plugging it in.

My only niggle, and it is a small one, is the beeping. After your food is done and you've opened the door to take it out, the CRISPi keeps beeping at you until you physically press the cancel button. If you just close the door and walk off, as I do every single time, it'll remind you of its existence repeatedly until you go back and deal with it. It's a minor grievance in the grand scheme of things, but it's the kind of thing you notice daily, and after a few weeks it will definitely start to grate on you.

Ninja CRISPi Microwave review: verdict

The Ninja CRISPi Microwave is a rarity in that it’s a kitchen appliance that actually lives up to its own marketing. The FusionCrisp technology really works, delivering results that are faster than a conventional oven and crispier than a standard microwave, and the standalone air fryer and microwave modes are both excellent in their own right. The build quality is a good step up from some of Ninja's other recent products, too, and it’s innovative where it matters, especially the versatile glass cooking dish and its flatbed design, which makes the interior feel surprisingly more spacious than your average microwave.

At its current RRP, it's definitely not cheap. But if you're in the market for both a new microwave and an air fryer, the CRISPi makes a compelling case for buying one appliance instead of two. It does both jobs well, it looks great on the worktop, and the FusionCrisp mode adds something you simply can't get from either device on its own.

If I had to pick one fault beyond the beeping, it would be the size. This is a big appliance that needs a pretty big chunk of worktop to live on. But if you've got the space and the budget, Ninja’s CRISPi Microwave is the most impressive of its kind that I've ever used.