Review: We test a microwave that doubles as an air fryer - and it's a space-saving smash hit

Pretty much every kitchen has a microwave in it. And most people now have an air fryer too. Have you ever wondered what it would be like to have these two handy bits of tech combined into one unit? No? Me neither, but I was still keen to test an appliance that does exactly that.

It's called the Salter Duowave, and it's a 26-litre microwave with all the usual bells and whistles a microwave comes with, but it also works as an air fryer. So it literally does combine two kitchen appliances into one.

I've tested a lot of air fryers and I've owned a few microwaves, so as I was unboxing the Duowave I was imagining it would be a fairly mediocre microwave, and a pretty rubbish air fryer. Surely, bundling these two important devices into something that looks like, well, a microwave, would not come without compromises.

To say I've been pleasantly surprised, though, would be a bit of an understatement. Firstly, the microwave part works every bit as well as you'd expect. You put cold food in, press some buttons, some whirring happens, then some beeping, then you take hot food out. It works absolutely fine as a microwave, then.

The air fryer element was the bit I was more doubtful about. Because of its microwave shape, it doesn't have the drawer layout of most mainstream air fryers, it has an opening door, and a huge chamber in which to place your food.

Within this chamber is a metal tray and a basket. These slide into the microwave cavity on runners. You press the button marked "air fryer", let it pre-heat a bit, and pop your potatoes in. Twenty-five minutes later you've got actual chips. Crispy, lovely, air-fried chips.

It wasn't a fluke either. I've been using the Duowave for a few weeks now, with a variety of types of food, and the air fryer works brilliantly.

It has an array of presets for both the microwave and the air fryer, but if you're anything like me you'll ignore those and control your times and temperatures manually - and that's a doddle to do thanks to the single rotary knob.

To revert back to a microwave, you just take out the tray and basket, and use the microwave controls and the spinning plate. It's all very simple.

In essence, there's absolutely no disadvantages to this combination approach. But there is one small hitch I didn't expect, and that's capacity.

While the microwave has 26 litres, (and there is a smaller one available) the air fryer doesn't. Big, dual-drawer air fryers can offer over 10 litres of food space, but the Duowave falls quite short of that. A family-sized portion of chips is about all you can fit in the supplied basket, so any second portions will have to be cooked separately.

Admittedly, you could easily fit in a whole chicken, or maybe half a dozen baked potatoes, but the single tray layout is a bit limiting.

Handily, there are two locations for the tray and basket - one is a bit higher, for more heat and crispiness, and the other a little lower - for a tall joint of meat, for example.

I was puzzled at first, over why Salter didn't include a second tray and basket to enable you to do a basket of veg beneath your layer of roast potatoes - but then I bought an extra tray for about £20 online, gave both baskets a try, and realised that the lower portion really doesn't get a lot of heat.

For family cooking, then, a large-capacity dual-drawer setup might actually be more useful. But for couples, or smaller families, or for people like me who use the air fryer for certain foods, or just to quickly blast out a healthy batch of chicken wings or something, it does an absolutely brilliant job.

And it's important to remember, of course, that a small air fryer would have to sit on the countertop next to your microwave. While this thing might not have a gigantic capacity, it's still not taking up any extra space.

At the end of the day, I get sent air fryers for testing all the time, but this is the one that is living in my kitchen right now, and getting used on a regular basis. It really is that good.