If you're looking for the next big kitchen appliance trend coming hot on the heels of the best air fryers we believe we've spotted it hiding in actor and TV presenter Stanley Tucci's pantry - the countertop toaster oven.
In a post on Instagram, the cooking-obsessed celebrity and author of Taste, gave fans a glimpse inside his walk-in pantry earlier this week. He was transforming some leftover farfalle into a pasta bake in a toaster oven we believe to be the Sage smart oven.
At Ideal Home, we're not embarrassed to admit that we've lost hours watching countless videos of Stanley Tucci's cocktail hours and episodes of Searching for Italy. It's safe to say we'll trust any kitchen appliance that has earnt a place in his family kitchen in London, including Stanley's very own cookware range with GreenPan. Not to mention our own Ideal Home kitchen appliance experts have tipped the toaster oven as the appliance trend to watch.
'After the popularity of air fryers, it wouldn't surprise me to see these countertop oven style appliances with an air frying functionality really taking off' says Molly Cleary, Ecommerce Editor at Ideal Home. 'Shoppers are often looking for appliances with a bit more space to cater to cooking family-sized portions and everyone still wants the convenience of an air fryer - so this seems like the perfect compromise.'
Toaster ovens are a standard feature in many US kitchens and have slowly been making their way over to the UK. The Sage Smart Oven is a toaster oven that is able to literally do it all - convection bake, convection grill, bake, grill, warm and toast.
Newer models also double as an air fryer oven, so it's easy to see why this multitasking appliance that is about the same size as a microwave has earnt a place in the Tucci household.
While it's not clear if the one in Stanley Tucci's pantry is the Sage Smart Oven Pro or Sage Smart Air Fry Oven, we've been lucky enough to have a little hands-on experience with the latter in our test kitchen. We can vouch for its abilities to match and surpass our best microwaves and air fryers combined.
We found that it was easy to use and performed well at most functions, making it perfect for streamlining the number of appliances in your kitchen.
However, one thing does hold it back - the price which can range up to £329.95 at John Lewis for the Sage Smart Air Fry Oven. But we have spotted the Sage Smart Oven Pro on offer for £199 instead of £249 at John Lewis.
If you're looking for another worthy alternative, we recently tested out the Lakeland digital mini oven, which Lakeland is tipping to be their next big product. In our Lakeland digital mini oven review our review awarded it 4 out of 5 stars. Our reviewer said 'It’s a little bigger than a large microwave and cooks food well with some handy extra features such as rotisserie accessories thrown in.'
However, if you are planning to use it to completely replace your air fryer, she did warn that the Lakeland version doesn't cook some things quite as quickly or as well as the best dual zone air fryer.
Has Stanely Tucci inspired you to invest in a countertop toaster oven?
Molly is the Ecommerce Editor for Ideal Home covering appliances and cleaning. She's constantly testing out the latest and greatest kitchen appliances, which means that she's spent a lot of time reviewing air fryers in the last year and a half. Her favourite is the Instant Vortex Plus Dual Basket air fryer, which she uses every day at home.
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