Combo cooking appliance

[FabioC]

I am considering buying a "combo" cooking appliance for the galley, either something like a compact air fryer/toaster/oven combo like this:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...1HBCX58Q&psc=1

or even a pressure pot/air fryer/toaster/oven combo like this (these are a bit bulkier, though):

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...KIKX0DER&psc=1

Thinking of the kind of cooking we do aboard (we cook only occasionally, often just re-heating or finishing cooking something already prepared and refrigerated, almost never underway, etc.), appliances like this look appealing and convenient, in comparison with the gas stove/oven aboard. An attractive aspect of these devices is that they are easier to clean, do not spray oil all over the galley when you cook steak or fry something, etc. The compact models are not excessively bulky and can fit in the galley.

Despite all these "on paper" advantages, I do not see them often in any galley (I see toasters, microwaves, etc., but have not seen one of these combos)... thus, I am wondering, what am I missing? Is there some reason they would not work well on a boat? One consideration is power consumption, some of these things are rated at 1700W (more than an hair drier), which is very high, but is it truly a show stopper, especially in case you are attached to shore power?

Any input/experience on this topic would be greatly appreciated.

[OldGreyB]

We have a ALDI sourced generic (ambiano) brand 2.5L, 1Kw Air Fryer. It only cost AUD$50. We originally bought one for house as it was so cheap an entry point to try air frying. However as it was so successful we bought one for the galley. It is the most utilised galley appliance on the vessel. The microwave is seldom utilised anymore.

The air fryer does hot croissants, small pies in a couple of minutes. Larger fresh pies in 5-8, and from frozen, in 20. Reheating most things easily, coming out hot and crisp. French fries are great too. My wife cooks meat roast for two people very easily in the unit and Pavlova (meringue) desserts.

There are multiple FB forums Air Fryer cooking - check those out. We find the 2.5L small size we have is perfect for two people. If more on board, we just run it twice. The smaller load size, 1Kw load coupled with the short time for most cooking keeps the battery drain low.

[BillKny]

We have a Galanz microwave/convection oven/air fryer/etc in a very compact size that was also very inexpensive <<US$200.

It's a great addition to our conventional galley that is usually propane powered. We cook 2 or three meals a day (every day) and have the support of a genset if needed.

[alaskanviking]

I have been thinking about a future galley and wiring refit and have similar questions with regards to all these combo devices. There is some good info out there but not a lot of specific details like how much real power will you use in a realistic day of cooking. some have tried but a lot of this is subjective depending on how you cook, what you cook with, and how long you cook for. makes it difficult to really make decisions like this. eventually ill get my electrical system up enough I may throw on a couple AC transceiver rings on all the galley sockets to track how much power is used.

here's what i can tell you on this stuff after asking and researching for a bit;

* I have an instant pot 8qt. its a bit big but i absolutely love the thing. currently pulling out my old wiring so my propane stove is temporally OOC, so i use this as my main cooking appliance currently. you can get an air fryer top for these. i rarely use more than the high pressure setting so in afterthought you probably don't need all the features of the more advanced models. cooking dinner is extremely fast, much faster than on the stove or oven. Power wise i don't know yet, but it does cook faster so i suspect it uses less energy than if i used the stove.

* i started using one of those little sandwich pocket makers. got a small and cheap one. ends up being perfect for pancakes, cake, biscuits, cornbread, muffin mix ect. make a pile of pancakes and dip them into a little bit of syrup. again i cant test the power right now but its small and the heat is targeted, so i imagine it may be light on power. its on longer to get through all the batter but not as long as i would on the stove or oven. doesnt need to heat up

* I have seen a lot of recommendations for using a beadmaker. apparently they are very efficient, and convenient. just throw everything together and hit the buttons. have seen a lot of people saying these use little power, which suggests other similar devices are similar.

* i have seen electrical analysis of microwave use on a boat. high power for short amounts of time ends up being decently efficient. again that hints that these types of appliances are likely decent on power usage. no guarantees however.

* i have seen testimony but no analysis or proof that toaster oven use is pretty efficient, similar to a microwave, possibly better insulated than many marine ovens. with the plethora of the new multi function appliances, i suspect it will be similar. i will be keeping an eye on this myself.

* using a single burner countertop portable induction stove has been reported as efficient.

* i think my biggest problem with the instant pot is it doesn't have enough pressure to can anything. i seen some new adds for a programmable pressure cooker recently but i haven't looked into it yet. i would like to can soup, stew ect to take to work with me instead of buying that kind of stuff at the store. would be handy to can any fish while at anchor. i would think that pressure canning would take a lot of energy no matter what you used, as you pressure can for 20m to an hour or more generally. however i could be wrong on this and its similar to an instant pot. with a stove top pressure canner you put a lot of water in there and that has to heat up and boil to steam, really heats up the kitchen. an electric programmable one should be better insulated and better heat transfer, so maybe.

* on a thread where i was asking similar questions there was a lot of people that posted their experiences with an all electric galley including some analysis of the numbers. the units we were talking about are bigger than what you are, the analysis and how they break down the numbers would assist you. there is enough experiences with electric cooking/galleys that it is very interesting and worth keeping an eye on.

i am still researching and have some time before i jump on anything. currently leaning towards either building a gimbled cabinet with a multifunction appliance like your talking about on a shelf of that cabinet, OR changing up the stove part of my galley to allow for a larger wall mount multifunction oven (convection oven/microwave/air fryer/broiler/programmable ect) in a gimbled cabinet. more work to put in the bigger unit, but i like the idea of a bigger oven. I may just postpone things and get one of the smaller programmable countertop ones just to test things out so i can figure out the best course of action.

Another issue with all of this is that its another appliance, and you only have so much room in your galley. I have heard people running their instant pot in the shower to save room, but i suspect that isn't as easy with a multipurpose oven or bread maker ect. all this stuff has to be stored also. my 8qt instant pot is a monster comparatively and there aren't many safe spaces that size to store it for underway. food for thought

[Svsumurun]

We have the smaller instapot - under 1000 watts - unfortunately no air fryer top for them yet that I've found , as I love our air fryer at home but adding that is a space concern . We do have a small size bread maker - again under 1000 watts that we use religiously.
Need someone to make an airfryer top for a 4 gt instapot and we'd be all set !

[Svsumurun]

BTW , I re read your post and you mention not seeing them on board boats. Unless they were in use, you would never see ours either... so they could be there , you just don't know... a microwave is hard to 'put away' so you see them!

[FabioC]

Thank you all for the insights!
I think, for the type of cooking I do aboard, the small Instapot is the way to go. It fits nicely on top of the gas stove, which likely I would not need to use much, if at all. This would not be exactly "an all-electric galley", but it would be so in practical terms most of the time.

[Seymore]

Are these 12v or 110v appliances?

[shimari]

Originally Posted by Svsumurun

We have the smaller instapot - under 1000 watts - unfortunately no air fryer top for them yet that I've found , as I love our air fryer at home but adding that is a space concern . We do have a small size bread maker - again under 1000 watts that we use religiously.
Need someone to make an airfryer top for a 4 gt instapot and we'd be all set !

Ninja makes a 5qt pressure cooker/air fryer combo. We have the 8qt version, but have only used the air fryer a few times. Happy so far.

[PirateFoxy]

We have one of these: https://www.amazon.com/Ninja-Multi-P...n%2C230&sr=1-3 in our RV and are quite happy with it so far.