In addition to a powerful air fry and broil function, the Ninja produced one of the prettiest pieces of toast in just three minutes and baked a chocolate chip cookie to gooey perfection. It's also the most compact of these countertop ovens and the only model that flips up via a hinge in the back to rest no more than 7 inches from the wall. The air fryer function was also best in show and it broiled a salmon filet nicely. The Ninja preheated the fastest (by far) and kept its heat consistent throughout.

The small yet mighty Ninja Foodi bested all others in my final assessment and placed either first or second in nearly every single test I ran, blending fierce power, consistency and control. If you're a little tight on kitchen space, like this New Yorker here, an air fryer/oven combo will do the work of an air fryer and a toaster and some models, like the flip-up Ninja Foodi Air Fryer Oven, don't take up much counter space at all. They also have smaller capacities in comparison to their overall size so I wouldn't call them good space-budgeters, especially if you want one that'll cook enough for two or more people. You can control the temp, but you're limited to a single cooking function - there's no broiling, for instance - and it's much harder to be precise if you're making something finicky and not simply crisping up fried food or frozen pizza. Pod-shaped air fryer ovens mostly do one thing: air fry.

I've used one of these air fryer toaster ovens myself for years and found it versatile with consistently delicious results. There are also hybrid convection toasters that have a built-in air-frying function, as well as lots of other cooking modes and presets. And while those are great, they aren't the only air-frying appliances on the market right now. When you think of an air fryer, the first thing that probably pops into your head is one of those plastic pod-shaped models.

Ninja foodi whole chicken