GoKawiilGrilling is great -- until it's 90 degrees outside and you're standing over an open flame. Cooking indoors isn't always the better option: the oven turns your kitchen into a sauna and running the gas range with the windows closed can hurt indoor air quality.
The mighty air fryer sidesteps both problems. These compact appliances cook fast, use less energy than a conventional oven and generate a fraction of the heat -- meaning you spend less time in a hot kitchen waiting for dinner.
To see just how much of a difference it makes, I tested an air fryer head-to-head against an oven, cooking the same food, and measured how much each warmed my kitchen. The results weren't close, and they confirmed what I suspected: the air fryer is one of the best tools you can own in summer, right alongside ice makers and blenders.
I ran the numbers, and the air fryer wins
A heat wave requires creative thinking to keep the home cool and an air fryer is my ticket to getting through those sweltering summer spells without starving. To see if air fryers belong in the summer cooking hall of fame, I ran tests to measure how much the oven heats up the kitchen compared to an air fryer.
Trendy air fryers are all they're cracked up to be, especially when it's hot out. David Watsky/CNET
Here's how much hotter the oven made my kitchen
The air fryer turns out juicy chicken thighs in under 20 minutes. David Watsky/CNET
To find real-world differences, I roasted chicken thighs in my KitchenAid wall oven (less than 10 years old) and in a 4-quart pod-style air fryer, following two popular recipes from a well-known cooking site. I tested the temperature before, during and after to see how much of a difference each machine makes.
My Brooklyn apartment kitchen is on the small side, but it's not enclosed and opens up to the rest of the apartment. I kept the windows closed for the test, although recent studies show that cooking with natural gas in an enclosed kitchen can pose a health risk.
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