Reviewing Cello Double Air Fryer
You have found my article reviewing Cello double air fryer, (model AF901A). So sit back and read all you need to know if you are thinking of buying one, or have it already & need help with it. Everything is broken down into sections (which you can jump to via the table of contents below), but if you are a visual learner, check out the video review on YouTube.
Reviewing Cello Double Air Fryer
All You Need To Know
**click to jump to section***
What Am I Reviewing?
This is my review of UK brand Cello’s new air fryer. It is a double air fryer, with 1 basket air fryer cavity and a larger, open-front mini oven cavity.
It is a 2-in-1 double air fryer and home oven, the model number is Cello-AF901A, and I picked the sage green model.
**For full transparency , I was gifted this double air fryer from Cello Electronics UK, in exchange for testing & producing an honest review of the product. You can watch my video review on YouTube below:
Video Review
The Specs You Want To Know
- Double air fryer – 3.5 Litre basket air fryer & 7.5 litre mini open-front oven.
- Air fry, grill, roast, toast, bake, dehydrate.
- Includes 2 racks for the oven, multi-use drip tray, plus crisper rack for basket cavity.
- Removable oven door for ease of use & cleaning.
- Sinc & match for both zones to finish at the same time
- Viewing light on mini oven
- 8 pre-set cooking programs
The Dimensions
I measured the air fryer, as well as detailed measurements of the inside areas so you know what you are going to be able to fit in it.
The width of the Cello double air fryer is 39cm (15.5″), 31cm (12″) high & depth of 28cm (11″). Note, the depth increases to 35cm (13.75″) because of the handle on the basket zone. (See next to my kettle for comparison).
The Basket – Zone 1
The air fryer basket, has 3.5 litre capacity, and a slim & long rectangular shape. The working, inner base size is 22cm (8.5″) long(depth), 11.5cm (4.5″) wide & with a height of 12.5 cm (5″).
The Mini Oven – Zone 2
The mini oven is 7.5 litre capacity, with 2 rack levels available.
The inner dimensions are: 22cm (8.5″) wide, depth of 21cm (8.25″) & height of 14cm (5.5″) maximum.
The slide-on racks, are 22cm (w) by 21cm (d) and the drip tray the same, but with a working area a little smaller by about 1cm.
The space between the 2 levels & at the bottom is about 4cm.
Baking/Cooking Trays That Fit
Below I have listed the types of standard bakeware that will fit in the basket or oven cavity. (*See them in my video too).
Basket Cavity:
Apart from cooking foods loosely on top of the crisper rack, I found I had a few other baking tins that fit. This 4.5” (11cm) round cake tin in the photo was only just slightly too big because of the release clip so a basic 4.5” would fit.
The second is a 1lb (450g) tin by MasterClass. Not as long as standard 1lb bread tins, but taller, ideal for basket air fryers. Fits a square basket frier too. It gives more space at the sides to lift in & out as well as plenty space above.
Oven Cavity:
The oven cavity has much more options. The MasterClass 1 lb loaf tin fitted in this, in either direction (so could take 2 of them).
The second fancy tin (as you see I never used it yet), is a brioche mould (22cm).
A little trick I suggested in my video, is to turn the drip tray upside down to lift the tin off the bottom of the oven.
Some smaller round dishes I had for my original small basket air fryer, also fitted in the oven section of this Cello double air fryer.
The white dish is a fluted ceramic pie dish, measuring 6” (15.25 cm). See Photo 4.
The deeper black tin is a loose based, 6” Wham brand cake tin (from B&M I think).
My loose based, spring release 4.5” from above, also fits easily (maybe 2 will fit).
I was gifted by a friend, a deep 6″ specifically for air fryer, that has a handle, and that fitted nicely too.
Tala 6″ fluted pie tin fits well, with plenty of space to get it in and move it around.
Masterclass, 6″ loose based square tin (see Photo5 below), fitted and you can even use the base for something like scones.
My 6.5″ (17cm) Kugelhopf bundt tin fitted really well with space all around. See Photo 5, top right pic. ***For recipes using this bundt pan in a basket air fryer, check out my Air Fryer Plum Orange Bundt Cake, (that can also be made using fresh cranberries, or even rhubarb).
But it didn’t stop there, a regular 8.75” (22.5cm) Kugelhopf bundt tin also fitted (in the photo is a Wiltshire brand bundt). Their rose gold square 20cm x *20cm (8×8”) tin also fitted nicely, as did their 20cm (8”) round cake pan.
Most interesting, the 23cm (9”) oven dish. This is actually 1cm longer than the inner size of the oven cavity. (See the size of it sitting on top of the air fryer, in Photo 5.) However, placing the dish on a diagonal, it fits perfectly.
Trying Out The Buttons
I demonstrate how to work the buttons on the digital, touchscreen display of this Cello double air fryer, in my review video. But here are the basics:
To turn on the air fryer after being plugged in, press the bottom right icon button. (See my finger point to it in the first pic in Photo 6). From there, 2 sets of 4 dashes (- – – -) will appear. To turn on the air fryer basket, press the ‘1’ icon/square on the left or ‘2’ on the right for the oven cavity.
Once turned on, a time & temperature will flash, alternating between the two until you set them. You can go with this temperature & time, but to change, press the icon on the right, with a clock & thermometer.
From here, click to select time or temperature, and then use the plus (+) or minus (-) buttons to increase/decrease the temperature & timing one at a time
Then simply press the power/start button at the bottom right to start the air fryer.
There are pre-set programmes too for some foods, that you can also adjust as above. (To select the pre-set, click the bottom left icon, and repeat pressing until the icon of food programme you want to use flashes).
To pause the cooking, press the on/off button (bottom right) & to turn off/cancel, press & hold the on/off button for 3 seconds.
If you want to open the air fryer or oven cavity mid-cooking, you can do so and it will pause, with the word ‘OPEN’ on the screen. This helps too if the door is not on properly. Once you close the air fryer or oven it will resume from where it left off with no need to set up again.
Testing The Machine
When it came to testing the machine, I used both cooking zones, same time & individually, in multiple tests. Here’s what I tested it on:
Test 1
My first test, on day 1, was to use both parts of the air fryer, to make my popular British scones. I have several recipes on my site, with detailed tutorials & videos, including ones I developed for using in a small basket air fryer. So this seemed like a very fair first test of the air fryer. In the photo here is my Cranberry Mango Air Fryer Scones, showing the typical rise, even with an air fryer.
From my first round of cutting the scones, there was a yield of 7 scones, so I baked 3 in the basket air fryer & 4 in the oven cavity. (See Photo 8). **Please make sure to add baking/parchment paper under the scones or they will bake onto the metal. But only use enough paper to house the scones, as excess paper can move in the air fryer & cause a fire hazard. See my video for how I did the paper lining.
My air fryer scones usually bake after a total of 12 minutes at a temperature of 200c, with 8 minutes at first, & then 4 more minutes turned over to bake the bottoms.
Since the mini oven had plenty space under the scones, I set that to the total time of 12 minutes. However, (with the benefit of the intermittent light that comes on in the oven side), I could see just before the 8 minutes, that the tops were colouring too much. A further 4 minutes, they would have been burnt. So I turned them over, egg-washed, reduced to 180c & baked for 4 more minutes.
Meanwhile the scones in the basket air fryer, after 8 minutes were coloured nicely, had risen well, and turned them over, to bake for 4 more minutes.
Both sets of scones in the end had a nice rise, as expected, with the only thing being that the oven baked ones were a deeper brown colour on top.
(See photo collage 9)
When it came to the scraps of dough that are used to make more scones, these tend to not be as perfectly shaped. They will rise but sometimes can be a bit lopsided or bumpy on top. No adverse effects to the taste just often don’t look identical to the first batch.
However, I could not have been more pleased with the baked scones from the scrap dough. I baked the scones in the basket, same temperature and timings as before. For the oven cavity, this time baked at 180c for 8 minutes & a further 4 minutes upside-down. Both baked off perfectly and just as good as the first batch.
So a 10/10 for the scone test.
Test 2
My second test of the air fryer was to use the oven cavity and bake 2 pizza subs & chips. The subs were baked in the oven & the chips in the basket zone.
The chips cooked well, going with the timing and temperature on the bag (200c).
The pizza subs cooked on the top quite quickly and had to turn them over. So another case of this oven cavity being quite powerful. So my recommendation would be to use on the lowest possible level. So turning the drip tray over & placing a rack on top, making it far from the top element but not touching the bottom of the oven.
Point to note too, any excess grated cheese not sticking to the pizza, will move about. I did initially think this was an oven front large air fryer, but seems to be an oven, possibly working like a fan oven. So something to bear in mind.
I would rate these 2 a 7/10, only because of how the pizza went. With time & adjusting to getting used to the oven zone, you will be able to make it work.
Test 3
Third test was Aldi’s Fully Loaded Detroit Style Deep Big Cheese Pizza. It’s a long rectangular one, with rounded edges. Even at a diagonal, it was too long by a few centimetres. So I trimmed it to a square that fitted inside the drip tray & and I placed the ends on a rack.
To not burn the top of the pizza with this powerful oven cavity, I used the lowest shelf position for the main square of pizza, and the ends on top of an extra rack on the bottom, again lifting it off the bottom of the oven.
I baked like that for 7 minutes @ 170c (lower than the box recommended), and then turned them & swapped rack positions to finish them off for about 3 more minutes.
I rate this test a 9.5/10, as you would be cutting the pizza anyway, and in the end it baked lovely in 10 minutes compared to the 15-17 minutes on the packaging & at 10c lower temperature than the suggested fan oven setting.
Test 4
The fourth test was Aldi’s little breadcrumb coated macaroni bites. Made them for my son, in the basket air fryer this time, on top of the crisper tray.
These baked @180c for 10 minutes, with 3 more minutes on the other side & turned out nice.
Rating of 10/10 for them.
Test 5
The 5th test was yet another food from Aldi. Roosters Peri Peri Chicken Breast Sizzlers. These were to be fried but wanted to try in the mini oven and cooked them in a long oven dish. This is the dish that’s a little longer than the width of the oven shelves, but fits nicely at a diagonal.
I cooked the chicken @180c for 10 minutes, then turned the chicken over for some even cooking. Cooking for 7 minutes to give a nice grilled look to them (just like in the product packaging). And cooked a final 5 minutes on the other side, checking they were fully cooked with a food thermometer. Saved some calories & fat by not frying this & they were added to a wrap with some salad.
Rating 10/10 for this test.
Test 6
The 6th test was Bird’s Eye omega fish fingers and chips. Different chips this time. A small meal for me so both fitted into the basket air fryer. I cooked the chips only to start with, @ 200c for 10 minutes. Then I shaked the chips & added the fish fingers, cooking for about another 10-12 minutes or so. Rating for these 10/10.
Test 7
The final test was done by my son (who I am gifting this double air fryer to, for when he gets his own house). He made Tesco chicken poppers, on the drip tray, in the middle rack & using the fan temperature recommended on the packaging and cooked in the quoted time with just some turning over half-way through. Rating of 10/10 for this as another calorie saver with no need to fry them.
Extra Features
Something I only briefly listed in the specs list, was a removeable door. The oven cavity of the air fryer, comes with the ability to easily remove the oven door.
The oven door has a large handle, that is good for opening and closing the oven, but does mean the door does not open completely flat on your worktop.
I would imagine this is one of the reasons for this extra feature. Making it easier to slide your trays in and out, especially so when hot.
The door comes off when you hold at a 45-degree angle to the machine, & light upwards.
Can be a bit tricky to put back on if you are not looking closely but just needs some attention to do it the correct way.
Another good reason for the oven door being removeable, is the ability to clean the door. Means you can easily get to the edges of the door, where crumbs seem to accumulate.
A feature not listed on the box or product details, is the metal panel on the top of the air fryer. It looks like a hot plate, but no mention of it. Possibly a design feature that was scrapped before production. Being a metal, it is heat safe and a safe surface to put either the air fryer basket or door, when using the machine & while hot.
I also used the top as a hot plate to keep some food warm, as it did generate a little heat from when it was in operation. Might even be a nice spot to put your bowl of bread dough to prove in a slightly warm environment.
My Conclusions
So what is my overall feeling about this new double air fryer by Cello? I do like it. I like the compact size of it. It is ideal for small families or even for caravans. The colour is lovely and a nice change to the standard black. The digital touch-screen is nice and big and easy to read. Just needs a quick look at the manual or my directions above for how to use each of the settings.
Nice that you don’t have to re-enter the settings when you open and shut the basket/door.
Saves you some time on the cooking, especially with such a powerful small oven. Saving you also some energy and money too.
Easy to clean the basket and inside the oven, with the added benefit of being able to remove the oven door.
Everything cooked good & quicker than expected. Baking the scones turned out really well & could not have gone better.
Selling at a reasonable price on the Cello website or on Amazon. Normally retails at £129.99, but currently on sale for £99.99. If in the market for a double air fryer, my recommendation would be to get yourself one of these instead of an overpriced Ninja double air fryer.
My Rating
Taking all my testing into consideration, my overall rating for this Cello double air fryer (model AF901A), would be a 9/10. Easy to use, very powerful, does what it says on the tin & looks good too!
Rating: 9/10
Need A Review/Collab?
Like my honest & detailed review of this air fryer?
Would you like to work with me?
I can do reviews & recipe or product testing. Plus much more.
Please visit my Work With Me page for more details and how to reach out to me.
I look forward to hearing from you!
Follow me on social media:
Happy Learning & Baking !
Caro x
Reviewing Cello Double Air Fryer
Search For Something You Fancy!
Caroline’s Easy Baking Lessons
