Smeg AFC01 Dual Flavour Air Fryer review: the best-looking, healthiest-cooking air fryer I’ve ever tried

I’ve reviewed too many air fryers to count, but the Smeg AFC01 Dual Flavour Air Fryer has to be the best-looking one I’ve ever tried. Launched in September 2026, the Smeg AFC01 Dual Flavour Air Fryer is the first standalone air fryer from the brand, and despite being late to the party, Smeg’s first air fryer was worth the wait.

Aside from looking stunning in its colourful, retro-inspired design, the Smeg AFC01 Dual Flavour Air Fryer has both steam and air frying functions, and has a unique lid and viewing window which makes it stand out from its competitors. But is it style over substance? I spent a few weeks testing the Smeg AFC01 Dual Flavour Air Fryer to find out.

Smeg AFC01 Dual Flavour Air Fryer review: price and availability

The Smeg AFC01 Dual Flavour Air Fryer is available to buy for £199.95 at Smeg and select retailers like Amazon, Currys, AO.com, Very and Boots. It comes in four colours – matte white, matte black, matte emerald green and matte storm blue.

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Smeg AFC01 Dual Flavour Air Fryer review: unboxing

The Smeg AFC01 Dual Flavour Air Fryer arrived in a large cardboard box, and came with the air fryer and a cooking rack. Internally, it has a 7.3-litre capacity and measures 31cm in height, 32.2cm in width and 31cm in depth, so it takes up minimal room on your countertop. It also weighs just 5.6kg so it’s easy to move around if needed.

Smeg AFC01 Dual Flavour Air Fryer review: design and features

The Smeg AFC01 Dual Flavour Air Fryer is undeniably a Smeg product, with its retro style, matte-coloured body and silver Smeg lettering at the front. It has a cube-like shape with rounded edges, and at the front of the air fryer is a single button which opens the air fryer lid.

The lid mechanism is different from the other air fryers on the market. It ‘swings’ open to reveal the internal basket which you can easily remove using the silicone handles on the side. It’s made from non-stick ceramic coating which is easy to clean, and is dishwasher safe.

On the top of the air fryer is a touchscreen which displays light-up icons, and manual and automatic controls. The screen is very touch sensitive, and allows you to manually adjust the time and temperature, or choose from one of the seven pre-sets – roast chicken, chicken wings, meat, fish, shrimp, vegetables and chips.

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Alongside the pre-sets, the Smeg AFC01 Dual Flavour Air Fryer has two cooking modes – Crispy and Juicy+Crispy. Crispy is recommended for breaded food and vegetables, and cooks food evenly with a crunchy, crispy and browned texture. Juicy+Crispy combines the air fryer’s hot air circulation with internal steaming to make food that’s crispy on the outside and moist on the inside.

The Smeg AFC01 Dual Flavour Air Fryer also has one of my favourite air fryer features – a large viewing window at the top. The window works alongside an integrated light which illuminates to show you your food’s cooking progress.

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Smeg AFC01 Dual Flavour Air Fryer review: performance

Due to all the product testing I get to do, I have a surprisingly limited amount of countertop room, but luckily, that wasn’t an issue with the Smeg AFC01 Dual Flavour Air Fryer. It slotted nicely into a tiny space, and due to its beautiful colour and design – of which I tried it in emerald green shade – I was happy to display this air fryer in my kitchen.

But enough about the looks – how does the Smeg AFC01 Dual Flavour Air Fryer actually work? Firstly, I loved the touchscreen interface and found it very easy to use. I tried its manual controls, and automatic pre-sets which would flash up with the perfect time and temperature for your food of choice.

One thing I found interesting about the Smeg AFC01 Dual Flavour Air Fryer was its timer when it was cooking. Typically, air fryers count down in minutes and seconds, but the Smeg AFC01 Dual Flavour Air Fryer just stays at a minute countdown, and it flashes between that and its temperature.

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This countdown took some time getting used to, but this seemed to be a theme with the Smeg AFC01 Dual Flavour Air Fryer, as its internal light also turned on and off intermittently during cooking. The window was a nice addition, although it did steam up quite a lot. I also found the air fryer to be very quiet when in action, even when it beeped after cooking.

Internally, the Smeg AFC01 Dual Flavour Air Fryer had a good amount of cooking space, although it did feel a bit small at times. Removing the basket was easy and the handles were safe and comfortable to use, although I found it a bit tricky with shaking the food.

Instead, the Smeg AFC01 Dual Flavour Air Fryer tells you to turn your food instead, so you have to take the whole basket out and rotate it, instead of a simple shake like other air fryers. It’s a small design ‘flaw’ if you can even call it that, and it’s mainly to do with the unique way the lid opens – I really liked the lid, so I was happy to make do!

I made lots of food in the Smeg AFC01 Dual Flavour Air Fryer but the standout meals were gnocchi, chicken fajitas and vegetables. Starting with gnocchi, I’ve been enjoying crisping it in the air fryer which typically takes 20 minutes. I found it took longer with the Smeg AFC01 Dual Flavour Air Fryer and while it cooked the gnocchi nicely, it wasn’t as brown as I would have liked, so I put it on crispy mode for 10 minutes and it achieved perfect results.

Next, I cooked chicken, peppers and onions with a fajita dry-rub mix in the Smeg AFC01 Dual Flavour Air Fryer and this was the best meal I had from it. Not only did the chicken come out perfectly moist and tender, but the peppers and onions were lightly charred and had a great texture. Again, this took longer at 25 minutes, but as I used minimal oil in the air fryer, there was hardly any clean-up, and these were the healthiest tasting fajitas I’d ever had.

The only meal ‘fail’ I had was with vegetables. I wanted to use the Juicy+Crispy setting but unfortunately, it didn’t work with the vegetable pre-set. I did some playing around with the manual controls to try steaming my carrots, but the results were a bit lacklustre. They didn’t have a ton of colour on them, and were still a little hard after being in the air fryer for 25 minutes.

Aside from the carrot mishap, the Juicy+Crispy setting worked nicely, although I found the water container dripped quite a lot. However, general clean-up of the air fryer was very easy. It requires hardly any oil either, so nothing sticks or stains to the basket.

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Smeg AFC01 Dual Flavour Air Fryer review: verdict

The Smeg AFC01 Dual Flavour Air Fryer definitely takes the crown for the most attractive air fryer I’ve ever tried – and on the market. Its lid is clever, touchscreen display is intuitive and sleek, and its viewing window and light ties everything together nicely.

Inside, you have a good amount of cooking space, and the Smeg AFC01 Dual Flavour Air Fryer truly makes delicious and healthy food. Its steam setting and pre-sets could be better and more expansive to cater to all food programmes, and the cooking times are slightly longer as well.

Having said that, the Smeg AFC01 Dual Flavour Air Fryer has a lot going for it and as the brand’s first air fryer, these ‘issues’ could be something to revisit down the line.

Smeg AFC01 Dual Flavour Air Fryer review: alternatives to consider

If you have minimal kitchen space, the Philips Air Fryer XXL is another single basket air fryer that cooks a huge amount of food. It has the ‘traditional’ air fryer look with a draw-like basket, and its frying capability leaves food tasting surprisingly healthy.

If it’s the steam setting you’re after, the Tefal EasyFry Grill and Steam Air Fryer is a good alternative. Alongside air frying, it grills and steams, and has an easy clean-up, too.