Expert assessment
Plus points
- Large capacity cavity
- Multiple accessories
- Affordable
- Six heating elements
Disadvantages
- Large footprint on the worktop
- Cleaning is a difficult job
- Not intuitive to program
Our verdict
If you have the space, the VonShef 28L air fryer oven from VonHaus offers a lot for the price. In addition to air frying, you will find everything from fermenting and dehydrating to roasting, defrosting, reheating and baking pizza. There is even a rotisserie. However, keeping it clean is overlooked: none of the accessories are dishwasher safe, the insides need to be scrubbed after each use, and we found that cooking juices can leak onto the worktop.
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Whether you’re an air fryer looking for more space and functionality, or would like to reduce your energy bills, the VonShef 28L air fryer oven from VonHaus can be a great addition to your kitchen. It combines the capacity of a small countertop oven with multiple programs and accessories, meaning you can prepare a wide range of dishes much faster, without having to turn on your main oven. This makes it ideal for quick weeknight meals such as pizza, rotisserie-prepared meat and poultry, and fresh chips.
Yet it is not only suitable for quick cooking: thanks to the fermentation, dehydration and baking functions you can prepare everything from homemade yoghurt and jerky to dried fruit, meringue and bread. And if you don’t have enough space for it, there is also an 18L version.
To compare the VonShef to other recommended models, check out our review of the best air fryer ovens we tested.
You can also check out our overview of the best air fryers we tested overall. If you already know you want a Ninja device, check out our dedicated Ninja review. We also have specific recommendations for dual-drawer air fryers.
Design and construction
- Extensive set of accessories
- The open door hangs above a standard countertop
- Not the most intuitive control panel
To offer a capacity of 28 liters, the VonShef 28L air fryer oven is necessarily quite large. It measures a surface-absorbing surface of 45.2 x 42.9 x 38.7 cm, weighs a whopping 11 kg and looks much like a compact conventional oven with a fold-down glass door.
Luckily, the accessories—a rotisserie spit, two handles, crumb tray, rack, baking tray (which doubles as a drip tray), and air fryer basket—can be stored inside when not in use, so you don’t have to find a place for them. However, when used on an average worktop with the door down, it will overhang slightly.
Rachel Ogden / Foundry
Two dials for time and temperature flank a control panel with an abundance of icons and text, making setting them less than intuitive. There are 14 presets: some are icons selected with the menu button, while others are labeled with a word. Two – frying and defrosting – are controlled by their own button, while buttons for switching on the internal lights and rotisserie spit add to the confusion.
In short, you need the manual at hand. That’s not to say there aren’t smart features here. Inside you’ll find six heating elements (four top, two bottom) combined with a diamond-pattern panel on the back. This is designed to distribute heat evenly for faster, more consistent results.
Performance and features
- It fits a 30 cm pizza and a maximum of 1 kg of fries
- Sufficient options for cooking settings
- Temperature range from 40-230°C
The VonShef 28L Air Fryer Oven’s busy control panel isn’t helped much by the instructions. During testing, we discovered errors and omissions that made it more difficult to use. For example, default times and temperatures are listed for each function, but some of it is not accurate, such as the default air fry time of 20 minutes when it is actually 30 minutes, and the default setting for chips being swapped with the one for toasting.
There is no guidance on the amount on which the standard values are based, and there is uncertainty about the types of food. This means you will need some experience or make sure you are around to check the progress of the food to avoid overcooking or undercooking it.
What we did like was the ease with which the settings can be changed to your liking. For example, the fan can be turned off, which is useful if it is not needed or if you are cooking food that can quickly blow. The timer only starts counting down when preheating is finished, so you know how long something will take. has cooked at the correct temperature.
The time and temperature can be changed once the oven is started, and the range is useful: most presets run up to an hour, while dehydration lasts 24 hours and the temperature ranges from 40-230°C. The capacity is also impressive: it can fit a 30 cm pizza and a maximum of 1 kg of fries.
Since it has both an air fry function and a preset for fries, we decided to test the former with frozen hash browns. There aren’t many guidelines for cooking frozen food, so we opted for 20 minutes at 180°C, the standard temperature, using the air fry basket. After the time had passed, we found that the hash browns were crispy, but more so on the top than the bottom, which were noticeably softer.
Rachel Ogden / Foundry
We then used the basket to make fresh fries with soaked, washed and dried potato pieces tossed in a small amount of oil. The default setting for this preset was 160°C – much lower than normal for frying – and 18 minutes – also much shorter than most. Because we felt that this setting would be more suitable for frozen fries than for fresh or lean fries, we increased the time to 25 minutes and 180°C.
Although there was no suggestion to turn the fries, we did so halfway through cooking. Unfortunately, this was still not enough for a consistent batch. The chips came out mostly pale and many needed more cooking time to crisp properly.
Rachel Ogden / Foundry
We also cooked a chicken with the corresponding preset (35 minutes at 230°C) and the rotisserie fork. The fork is designed to hold a whole chicken up to 2.5kg, but we recommend some skill is involved with such a heavy bird. Once a tray was in place to catch the grease, as advised, we struggled to balance a 1.5kg bird on the fork without it dragging.
While cooking the oven emitted a fair amount of steam and some smoke as grease and juices hit the elements at the top of the oven, forcing our kitchen extractor to be on all the time. In addition, the juices flowed out of the container and penetrated the seam in the door, leaving puddles on the worktop. Despite these problems, the chicken was thoroughly cooked, with browned skin, not too crispy and juicy meat.
Rachel Ogden / Foundry
Cleaning up afterwards was the biggest challenge: all accessories had to be hand washed as they are not dishwasher safe. Despite a lot of scrubbing, we couldn’t remove the burnt-on grease from the tray and crumb tray, and we feel that non-stick accessories would be more suitable. The oven cavity should also be cleaned after each use once it has cooled: more effort than most air fryers, where the drawers can easily be cleaned by hand or placed in the dishwasher.
Price and availability
The VonShef air fryer oven has an RRP of £149.99, which is very good value, especially for an appliance of this capacity. You can buy it from VonHaus for this price, but it is available from Amazon and B&V for only €129.99. You can buy the 18L model from Amazon for £89.99.
You can compare it with rivals in our best air fryer oven review.
Should You Buy the VonHaus VonShef 28L Air Fryer Oven?
As an appliance, VonShef’s 28L Air Fryer Oven could use a few tweaks. Some of the presets aren’t quite right and you may need to adjust the times and temperatures after cooking with it a few times. Moreover, cleaning it and its associated equipment is a chore.
But if you can overlook the oven’s quirks, it offers a lot for the price: plenty of space inside, energy-efficient cooking, and a price tag that means it’s relatively affordable for most. For those who want to save on oven usage, entertainers, or large families who need extra capacity, this versatile countertop appliance can be a smart purchase.
