Breville Smart Oven Air Fryer Pro review: a serious countertop oven for family life

Making space for every appliance you need in your kitchen can be tricky, especially if you don't have a pantry. That's where countertop ovens shine, with bonus features that increase functionality while saving you space.

The Breville Smart Oven Air Fryer Pro is the best example of a countertop oven that can do it all, with a sleek interface to match. There are 13 functions packed into this oven, with a range of accessories to help you with everything from turning out perfect pizzas to slow-cooking a stew. Breville claim that you can slash cooking time by 30% with this oven, with a temperature range that spans from 80 to 480 degrees Fahrenheit.

Of course, Breville is an in-demand brand when it comes to the best air fryers, but the price tag of its appliances can be less than appealing. It's the same with this Smart Oven, which comes in at $449.95, a significant sum. That's why we put it to the test at home, in order to establish if its functionality and form are worth this sort of eye-watering investment.

Breville Smart Oven Air Fryer Pro: key specifications

Breville Smart Oven Air Fryer Pro: First impressions

There's a fair amount of plastic encasing the Breville Smart Oven Air Fryer Pro, but given that this is an oven model rather than a basket air fryer, it does feel like it needs a little more protection.

Out of the box, the oven is unbelievably sleek. I tried a limited edition version called Dhuuyaay 'Fire Stick Farming' which celebrates Aboriginal culture with its fantastic hand painted design, while the standard model is finished in elegant stainless steel.

As it's a toaster oven design, you benefit massively from the large glass viewing window. It also has a pull-down door, with an LCD side panel to complete the exterior. It's fairly large with three spaces for separate trays. If it's a family-sized unit you need for cooking pizza, toasting bread and bagels and air frying, this air fryer will tick your boxes.

One of the other things I noticed initially and loved during the testing process was that there's plenty of space for plates and bowls in the oven too, which makes reheating leftovers so easy.

There's a wealth of literature available with the Breville Smart Oven, with recipes and instruction manuals to pore over. The recipes are especially great for anyone new to air frying, showing you how to cook meat and vegetables in new ways.

Breville Smart Oven Air Fryer Pro: Price & availability

The Breville Smart Oven Air Fryer Pro has a list price of $449.95 for the stainless steel finish, whereas the limited edition Dhuuyaay 'Fire Stick Farming' that I have on test will set you back $699.95. It's a steep price, but you do get a huge amount of functionality for your money.

Both the stainless steel finish and 'Fire Stick Farming' hand painted finish can be bought direct from Breville. Alternatively, the stainless steel finish can be bought through select resellers such as Amazon, Best Buy and Walmart.

Score: 4/5

Breville Smart Oven Air Fryer Pro: Design

Breville products are always great to look at, and the Breville Smart Oven Air Fryer Pro is no exception. Even away from the overall look of the oven, the tiny details are great here. The dials are polished and feel satisfying to use, and the LCD screen is really comprehensive, so you don't need to click any buttons to access different modes.

You can fit a whole large-sized chicken in here, and you can cook several elements at once thanks to the multi-tray system, so it's hard to find complaints here when it comes to size. There are seven different layers specified on the glass of the door, telling you exactly where to put foods according to the cooking function you need. I've found it to be a fairly faultless design, and easy for anyone to use.

Score: 5/5

Breville Smart Oven Air Fryer Pro: Performance

According to the exterior of the Breville Smart Oven Air Fryer Pro, which is labeled on the inside of the door, the top layer of this oven should be reserved for broiling, air frying and toasting.

To begin I started with cooking fries, which are fantastic for crisping up in an air fryer. I set them off to cook using the dial controls and had to wait for the oven to warm first, which took about two minutes. Once that's done the oven beeps, in the style of a microwave, to let you know that the cooking process has begun.

They were cooked to perfection, which Breville would say is probably due to the Element iQ System. This is an algorithm-based program that directs power to where it's most needed in the oven, which in practice gives you a more even cook on whatever is inside.

Next up I cooked bacon, where I used the broil function. For this, I used the top layer of the oven again, which is so the bacon can get closer to the heating element. This air fryer warms up nice and quickly, meaning that after just five minutes the bacon looked great. I also love how with this type of air fryer, unlike a basket model, you can cover a tray with tin foil and not have to scrub the whole thing when cleaning due to dripping fat.

Adding vegetables into any meal is essential, which is why I then moved onto to trying the bake function on this oven. For this, I used the tray insert again, putting chunky veg to cook in for at least 20 minutes. The range of inserts with this oven is superb, including a mesh basket for air frying, a pizza pan, two oven racks and a broil rack.

This is also the section of the oven where you can slow cook, roast, and reheat. It took a little longer than air frying would, but the overall result on the vegetables was great. It's also great that on any mode you can dial the temperature on this oven all the way up to 480 °F. It's the highest temperature range on an air fryer I've ever tried, going all the way down to 80°F if you want to use the dehydrate function too.

Score: 5/5

Breville Smart Oven Air Fryer Pro: How Does it Compare?

The Breville Smart Oven Air Fryer Pro is packed full of functionality and simply perfect for everyday family life. From toast to pizza, this oven can do it all. It does come at a high price, however, which is where cheaper alternatives like the Cuisinart Compact Air Fryer Toaster Oven come in. Our reviewer gave it a solid review, and it's also more compact than this oven if you're short on countertop space.

If you like the sound of a family-sized air fryer but would prefer a basket-type design, then you can't go wrong with the Instant Vortex Dual 8-Quart Stainless Steel Air Fryer. It has two baskets, so you can cook meat and vegetables simultaneously, and viewing windows, like the Breville oven, for ease of use.

That being said, if it's a countertop oven you're looking for and you can afford it, absolutely stick with the Breville Smart Oven Air Fryer Pro. It's bound to impress you.

Should you buy the Breville Smart Oven Air Fryer Pro?

Buy it if...

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How we tested the Breville Smart Oven Air Fryer Pro

The main testing criteria with this air fryer were how well it cooked a range of foods, its value for money, and its overall design.

I did several rounds of testing using different foods. I recorded how long each food type took and took photographs to document how cooked everything was.

Finally, I cleaned and stored the air fryer at home (even though it's quite large!) to have a realistic depiction of day-to-day use.