The kitchen trend that never lost traction.
Here’s why cooks continuously love air fryers.
You get the speed of a microwave, and the browning effect of a convection oven.
It is essentially fixing the major downfalls of two of the most used appliances in the kitchen.
Furthermore, it is one of the simplest pieces of technology on the planet which forced every major manufacturer to hop on the bandwagon.
So, it begs the question…With well over 20 air fryer manufacturers, which model is right for you?
For those looking for a simpler, smaller unit, the Chefman Turbofry Air Fryer is one of the most highly reviewed models available.
To see if it lived up to the hype, we personally tested the Chefman Turbofry 2 Quart Air Fryer with steak, chicken breast, hot pockets, chicken fries, dessert apple crisps and lemon cake (Pictures shown as you scroll).
Chefman Company
If you have no interest in the Chefman company, feel free to skip to the next section.
Chefman is a kitchen appliance company formed back in 2011.
They produce a long list of kitchen appliances including coffee makers, air fryers, mini fridges, juicers, blenders, waffle makers, slow cookers, and much more.
While there is very little information about the company online, it’s fairly obvious that the vast majority of their products are created in China.
Their facebook page features subpar reviews largely due to angry customers who had a bad experience with the warranty process.
With that said, there were also reviews that completely contradicted this so we recommend taking this information with a grain of salt.
The company was responsive to the complaints which, at the very least, is an uplifting sign.
Despite the negative reviews on their facebook page, each of their products has a large quantity of Amazon ratings (usually over 1000) that average somewhere between 4.4-4.6 out of 5 stars (affiliate Link).
All in all...
we were displeased with the limited amount of company information on the web and the less-than-average customer responses on Facebook.
With that said, the Chefman’s products continue to accrue positive reviews and their prices are very competitive.
The Most Common Positive Remarks
These are the qualities people liked the most about the Chefman Air fryer (found through scouring the Amazon 5 star reviews).
We put an asterisk** next to every response we personally agreed with.
- **Great price**
- **Extremely easy to use**
- **Small footprint**
- **Great capacity for 1-2 people (2 people max)**
- **Cooks quickly and crisps nicely**
- Great alternative to the instapot (not much experience with the instapot so we can’t comment here).
The Most Common Complaints
These are the most common complaints you’ll find in the Amazon reviews (from 1 star to 4 star reviews).
We’ve put an asterisk next to ones we felt were also product shortcomings.
- No Color options
- Size is too small (company is very upfront about the size)
- **Vent gets super hot in the back (safety concerns)**
- **Temperature and Time labels difficult to read**
- **Knobs make for imprecise control**
- **Have to hold the unit in order to close the machine**
- Plastic smell (I experienced this only with the first cook but others said it lingered for longer).
Functionality (Overall 4.0/5)
-Over a month-long period, we air fried chicken breast, steak, fingerling potatoes, hot pockets, chicken fries, dessert apple crisps and lemon cake.
Here was our experience:
Browning (4.5/5)
One of the major qualities that separates an air fryer from a microwave is its ability to brown. As you can see in the image gallery, everything we cooked in the air fryer browned nicely on the outside. The fingerling potatoes became crunchy brown on the outside and soft on the inside.
The steak charred slightly (however we much prefer our steak on the cast iron or grill).
The hot pockets browned on the outside which made them taste much better than the microwave alternative.
Evenness of Cooking (3.8/5)
Hot/cold spots really shouldn’t be an issue with any air fryer due to the powerful fan. It does become an issue, however, when you cram the air fryer with food.
So, to test this…we stuffed the air fryer with about a pound of chicken breast.
When we flipped the chicken halfway through the cook, we rearranged them to help encourage even cooking.
It wasn’t perfect but pretty dang close. As the chicken shrunk, it exposed more of the air fry basket which promoted even cooking. The chicken came out surprisingly juicy.
Then why the low score?
While the chicken cooked evenly, our experience with the lemon cake was just the opposite. The top browned up nicely but just below was a deep layer of uncooked batter.
Since the cake batter left no path for heat to penetrate into the lower portion of the food, only the top cooked sufficiently.
Air fryers are designed so that heat not only travels into the basket but around the basket as well.
Our experiment with chicken showed that the air circulating inside of the basket is quite effective.
Our cake batter experiment, however, proved that the heat circulated around the basket is far less effective at cooking thoroughly.
So, if you plan to bake in this air fryer, we recommend investing in air fryer liners. That way heat can still get around the liner inside the basket and bake underneath the cake.
Versatility (3.8/5)
So, what can this air fryer do and what are its limitations?
For the most part, this air fryer can do anything any other air fryer can do. The real limiting factor here is the size.
Two quarts is pretty small and unless you’re a household of 1-2 people, we recommend a larger size.
What it does well:
- Frozen foods like chicken nuggets, pizza rolls, pizza pockets, french fries, etc.
- Smaller fillets of meat.
- Vegetables medleys (thicker vegetables do better; think asparagus, not spinach).
- Reheating smaller portions of food (great alternative to the microwave).
What it DOES NOT do well:
-Baking pastries/cakes or wet batters (with the right accessories, we’d probably have a better experience here)
-Casseroles (due to its size limitations but in the right household, it could suffice)
-Larger cuts of meat (you’ll have to cut the meat up which can be a big downfall with high quality cuts)
Design
Like most air fryers, the Chefman Air Fryer looks like a miniature space pod. A futuristic look for a trendy, futuristic product (even though it really is just a miniature convection oven).
Size (No score)
It’s important to note that this is a SMALL air fryer. 
There were a lot of complaints regarding this part of the design. With that said, Chefman never hid this information from customers, so we can’t really knock them for it (hence why we left no score for this feature).
Upsides:
- Small footprint
- Great for those cooking only for themselves (or maybe 1 more)
- Faster cooking (due to smaller cooking area)
- Lightweight for easy maneuvering
Downsides:
- Not versatile in terms of how many it can serve
- Limited to smaller meals
Controls (4.0/5)
The first thing you’ll likely notice about this air fryer are the two giant knobs. One on the top, one on the front.
The top knob features temperature markings from 200-400°F in increments of 25°.
As you can see, the indent around the knob creates a shadow that makes it hard to see the temperature labels (there were several complaints about this).
The front knob features time markings from 0-60 minutes in increments of 2 minutes (still small labels, but far easier to see).
The power illuminating light tells you when the unit is on and the heating light tells you that the air fryer is still preheating.
Upsides:
The knobs are extremely simple and quick to use. For those who find themselves overwhelmed by the advancements in modern technology, this is a simple and effective way of cooking food.
Downsides:
For whatever reason, Chefman made the time and temperature markings very small.
A significant flaw in engineering considering the simplicity of the knobs really does attract the elderly crowd.
This was a fairly common complaint in the Amazon reviews and it’s definitely something worth considering. We, however, didn’t feel like this was a big enough inconvenience to consider returning the product. I don’t mind having to squint to figure out what I’m doing.
Basket/Drawer and Insert (4.0/5)
Typical of most air fryers, a handle sticks out of the front to provide leverage when pulling the drawer out.
Upsides:
- The drawer locks in and, when locked in, is secure.
- Drawer is easy to pull out and insert.
- Basket and insert are made of nonstick material (not completely non stick but pretty effective)
Downsides:
- Unit is so lightweight that you’ll need to grab onto the body in order to pull out/insert the drawer.
Naturally, you’ll grab the back of the unit which has a vent that gets VERY HOT. We found this out the hard way.
The perforated metal insert allows air to circulate underneath the food which ensures even cooking. The 4 rubber boots allow you to lock it in place.
There were originally a lot of customer complaints about the burning plastic smell lasting much longer than the first use. However, we did not have this experience and so cannot comment.
However, we did see that Chefman used to use plastic instead of rubber for the boots on the insert. This could be the culprit for the long lasting smells.
Ease of Cleaning (5.0/5)
Personally, I LOVED cleaning this air fryer.
Unlike a toaster oven, you can easily detach the drawer and fill it with hot, soapy water. I leave it for an hour or so and when I come back to it, everything comes right off!
The nonstick surface surely helps as well.
We also went into the Amazon reviews, typed “clean” into the customer questions tab, and saw that there were unanimously positive reviews regarding the ease of cleaning.
Our Overall Takeaway (4.2 / 5)
All in all, we really enjoyed the Chefman Air Fryer. It has its flaws but ultimately none that made us reconsider its efficacy in the kitchen.
Most importantly, it browned our food (something that a microwave can’t do) and cooked it quickly (something that our oven can’t do).
It gets the job done and is sold for a very low price (qualities that rarely come together).
However, since everyone has different needs and preferences in the kitchen, it’s important to think about these three flaws:
- It is small (ideal for 1-2 people)
- The temperature and time markings are small
- the vent in the back gets very hot
These can deal breakers for certain groups and so we encourage you to consider them before buying.
Conclusion
There you have it. The Chefman Airfry 2 Quart Air Fryer put to the test. Ultimately, we think it performed pretty well for the price point. If you're interested in an air fryer but don’t want all the bells and whistles some of the other models have, we recommend looking into it.
If you have any questions or comments, don’t hesitate to leave a note below. We’ll continue to cook with it and follow up with its longevity.
Cheers,
Michael
Founder of Robust Kitchen
