The Ninja Crispi DualZone air fryer earns its price tag with clever design, great features, and excellent cooking

Ninja Crispi Dualzone: 30-second review

The Ninja Crispi DualZone is a fantastic looking and performing air fryer, boasting eight cooking modes, a clever basket design, and excellent controls. It’s also one of the most expensive air fryers on the market. Is it worth the money? I’ve put it to the test to find out.

Get it out the box and place it on your kitchen counter and you’ll be impressed by how much it doesn’t look like every other air fryer on the market. Out is the black, boxy design, and in is Ninja’s CleanCrisp glassware containers, giving the Crispi DualZone an airier presence. This is an air fryer you won’t necessarily want to hide away in a cupboard.

It’s not just looks though, as there’s clever design in play here too. The plastic and rubber base on the glass containers make them easy to manoevre and allow you to set them down anywhere when hot, without the need for a heat mat.

Then there are the eight cooking modes, offering excellent versatility and cooking performance. Air Fry and Max Crisp are staples you’d expect to see, but Bake, Roast, Re Crisp, Prove, Dehydrate and Keep Warm ensure the Crispi DualZone can be used for much more than simple air frying.

And if you have leftovers, there’s no need to decant into another container. Let the glassware cool, snap on one of the lids provided in the box and slide it into the fridge.

Sure it’s expensive, and it’s too heavy to be constantly moving in and out of storage, but the Ninja Crispi DualZone offers the premium air fryer experience its price tag demands.

Ninja Crispi Dualzone: price and availability

• Model reviewed costs £299.99
• Similar model in the US costs $379.99

The Ninja Crispi DualZone is one of the most expensive air fryers on the market. I reviewed the Crispi DualZone 8-in-1 model (DD102UK) in the UK that costs £299.99, and currently isn’t available in the US.

But fear not, as Ninja offers the almost identical Crispi DualZone 6-in-1 model (DD101) in the US for $379.99. The only difference being it misses out on the Prove and Keep warm functions from the UK model I’ve reviewed.

The 6-in-1 model is also available in the UK (DD101UK), but as it’s the same price as the 8-in-1, it’s bizarre it’s on sale as well.

It means the Crispi DualZone is up against the best dual-zone air fryers around, including Ninja’s own AF300UK Foodi Dual Zone and Double Stack XL, as well as the Philips 4000 Series Stacked Dual Basket and Russell Hobbs Satisfry Dual Basket - all of which cost less.

• Value score: 4/5

Ninja Crispi Dualzone: specifications

Ninja Crispi Dualzone: design

• One of the best looking air fryers
• Clever basket design for easy use and placement
• Very heavy, so difficult to move around

The Ninja Crispi DualZone doesn’t look like your traditional black box air fryer. You’re paying a premium for Ninja’s modern styling, and this is one of the best looking air fryers on the market.

The two CleanCrisp glassware containers and clever self-aligning, slide-in mechanism gives you a view of three of the four sides during cooking, allowing you to watch your food like a hawk to ensure it’s not burning.

And the two baskets have a clip-on plastic base with handles and rubber feet, not only allowing you to safely slide them in and out of the base, but also set them down immediately on the side without the need for a heat protective mat. I loved this, as it meant I didn’t have to think where I was placing a hot basket, I could take it straight to the table and pop it down.

Initially you might think the two 3.6L glassware baskets are a little on the small size, even if they do combine for a total cooking capacity of 7.2L. But when I started using the Crispi DualZone I quickly realised the depth of these baskets means you can fit a surprising amount into them.

Another nice touch is the two included lids for the baskets. It meant if I had leftovers, I could let the basket cool, pop the lid on, and slide it into the fridge for the next day - no need to dirty another container.

I also like the controls on this air fryer. You get physical buttons and a dial (unlike touch controls on some air fryers, which can get dirty and unresponsive), all of which are clearly labelled and easy to follow. Ninja has done a good job of simplifying the controls, with easy cooking mode, temperature, and time adjustments.

You also get Smart Finish and Match Cook functions, which come in useful when using both baskets for cooking. Smart Finish allows you to set the baskets for different cooking durations, but have them finish at the same time by delaying the start of the shorter cook.

Match Cook on the other hand allows you to copy the cook mode, temperature and duration from one zone to the other. This is handy when doing a large batch of the same food, as it means you only need to enter the cooking information once and then hit Match Cook to copy it over.

Set the Crispi DualZone cooking, and depending on the cooking mode and duration selected, it’ll work out when it needs to alert you to shake or flip the food in the basket. It’s great Ninja does this automatically, as it means I didn’t have to remember to select a shake reminder function.

And there are plenty of modes to choose from; Air Fry, Max Crisp, Prove, Bake, Roast, Dehydrate, Keep Warm and Re Crisp. You get an instruction and recipe book included in the box that walks you through the various modes, provides tables for a wide range of food showing the best mode, time and temperature for each, as well as some tasty recipes to try.

What was a bit of a surprise however was just how heavy this air fryer is. The base has significant heft to it, and when both glassware baskets are inserted you’ve got a unit that’s over 14kg. If you’re someone who likes to pop their air fryer in a cupboard when not in use, the Crispi DualZone might not be the right choice for you. Still, at least it looks smart left out on the counter.

The good news is the baskets and crisper trays are all dishwasher safe, making cleaning up much easier. You can unclip the plastic base of the basket too, to ensure a thorough clean all round.

In the UK it’s available in three colors on the Shark Ninja website — Cyberspace (deep blue), Bone (off white) and Rose Quartz (pink) - while at time of writing Amazon UK has it in Bone and Stone Gold colorways.

A quick word of warning if you do end up buying the Ninja Crispi DualZone - the air fryer comes well packed with lots of protective packaging to remove. Make sure you've got it all off before switching it on.

• Design score: 4.5/5

Ninja Crispi Dualzone: performance

• Excellent cooking performance across modes
• Glassware baskets means it’s easy to check progress
• Some trial and error is needed for the perfect cook

The Ninja Crispi DualZone is a powerful 2860W air fryer offering excellent cooking performance across its various modes.

I kicked things off in the default air fry mode. Homemade fries, garlic bread, and frozen onion rings all cooked well. The fries were crispy on the outside and fluffy in the middle after 26 minutes of air frying — although my personal preference would be to do them for another three or four minutes to really crisp up the outside.

Fries cooking test

Before

After

That’s part of air fryer ownership though, the trial and error as you get used to a particular air fryer’s way of cooking — much like breaking in a new oven. Sure it’s similar to your last one, but you might have to fine tune cooking times and temperatures to get the results you want.

Thankfully with the Crispi DualZone that’s easy to do thanks to the simple controls and the all-glass baskets. It meant I could see in real-time how cooked my food was and stop it early, or extend the time without having to hit pause by pulling out a basket.

Garlic bread cooking test

Before

After

The frozen onion rings came out crispy, while the homemade garlic bread needed just six minutes for a crisped finish without getting burnt. I also tossed in some gyoza for 10 minutes for some excellent crispy dumplings.

Another air fryer favorite of mine is chicken wings, and cooking a bunch at 200C for 30 minutes resulted in wonderfully crispy skin and succulent meat that had me going back for more.

Chicken wing cooking test

Before

After

The instruction and recipe book you get with the Crispi DualZone suggests you should use the Max Crisp function for frozen foods, so I did exactly that with a mix of thin and chunky fries from the freezer. They cooked well, and remained fluffy in the middle — but my mistake was combining thick and thin fries in the same basket. It meant the thin fries came out a little overcooked.

I also used Max Crisp for roast potatoes in one basket, while I selected the roast function for the other side to cook carrots and parsnips. With Smart Finish selected, they all finished at the same time, and tasted great.

Vegetable cooking test

Before

After

As it turned out, the other parts of the meal I was preparing weren’t ready though, so I returned the baskets to the air fryer base and switched on Keep Warm. This allowed me to serve still-hot potatoes, carrots and parsnips without them being burned.

Switching gears to something sweet, I was able to bake a dozen banana muffins across the two baskets using the dedicated Bake mode. At 160C for 18 minutes, my mix rose well and the resulting muffins were light and fluffy.

Muffin cooking test

Before

After

If you’ve read any of my previous air fryer reviews, you’ll know I’m partial to pizza. While the Ninja Crispi DualZone doesn’t have the required basket size or shape to cook a whole pizza, its Re Crisp function came in clutch the morning after a night of pizza and beer.

I tossed a few leftover slices into a basket, hit Re Crisp, and in 15 minutes I had slices that were almost like they just came out of a pizza oven.

Should you buy the Ninja Crispi Dualzone?

Buy it if

Don't buy it if

Ninja Crispi Dualzone: also consider

If the Ninja Crispi DualZone isn't the right air fryer for you, here are two other options to consider:

How I tested the Ninja Crispi Dualzone

• I used the Ninja Crispi DualZone for multiple weeks at home
• I cooked a wide variety of food with it, including fries, chicken wings, gyoza, muffins, vegetables and meat
• I tested the various cooking functions, and the cleaning process

I used the Ninja Crispi DualZone for several weeks at home, cooking a wide variety of food and testing out the various cooking modes and functions.

I baked muffins, air fried fries, chicken wings, gyoza, onion rings and more, roasted vegetables, max crisped frozen foods, kept cooked food warm, re-crisped leftover pizza the next day, and snapped on a lid and popped leftovers in the fridge.

I hand-washed the components, and ran them through a dishwasher, to ensure cleaning and maintenance was easy.

First reviewed November 2026