Ninja Foodi MAX Dual Zone AF400UK Review: 9.5 Litres, 2,470 Watts and 65p an Hour
This is the air fryer that made two drawers normal. Five years after launch it is still the machine other air fryers get compared against — but it is also 41.5 cm wide, draws 2,470 W flat out, and the guarantee is described three different ways by three different sellers. We have put the numbers, and the disagreements, where you can see them.
Where the reviews line up
Three very different sources, and they converge hard. TechRadar is the only one that put a meter on it — 60.7 dB, which it compares to a fridge hum. KitchenMason is a food blogger who has run one almost daily for a year and measured the inside of the drawers, which nobody else bothers to do. And Feefo carries 554 purchase-verified ratings collected through Currys, averaging 4.8 out of 5.
They agree on the thing that actually sells it. Two independent zones with SYNC and MATCH is not a gimmick. SYNC makes two different foods at two different temperatures finish at the same moment; MATCH copies one drawer’s settings to the other for a double batch. Every source lands on the same verdict: this is the feature you miss immediately when you go back to one drawer.
It cooks fast and it cooks well. Trusted Reviews got frozen hash browns done in 11 minutes on Max Crisp against a typical 20; Mumsnet’s tester cut a chicken schnitzel from 30 minutes to 12. The recurring criticism across every source is the same one: browning is uneven unless you shake, and there is no shake reminder to prompt you.
The real cost of ownership is worktop, not electricity. At 41.5 cm wide and 8.8 kg this is a permanent resident, not something you put in a cupboard, and it vents hot air from the back. On running cost the panic is overdone: at the current cap a full-power hour is about 64 pence, and Which? publishes an annual figure of £45.55. A 25-minute tray of chips costs pennies, not pounds.
Do not pay the £229.99 RRP. It has not been the real price for years. Very was showing £179 and stock trackers were finding it from £165 on the day we checked. If a shop wants more than about £190, wait a fortnight.
The three reviews this summary is built from
- TechRadarEditorial bench test by Carrie-Ann Skinner. The only source anywhere that put a decibel meter on it: 60.7 dB.
- KitchenMasonEmma Mason, a year of near-daily use. The only source that measured the inside of the drawers.
- Feefo via Currys4.8/5 from 554 purchase-verified ratings in the past year. Verified buyers, so harder to game.
Before the review: which AF400 are you being sold?
Ninja has used the Dual Zone name across several machines and the listings blur together. The AF400UK is the 9.5 litre, 2,470 W, six-function model in black; the AF400UKWH is the same machine in white. The AF300UK is the smaller 7.6 litre one, and the AF451UK — which is what T3 reviewed — is a later 10.4 litre model with a seventh function. They are not interchangeable, and the AF400EU sold across the Channel has a two-pin plug. Check the code on the box, not the name in the headline.
Specification at a glance
| Spec | Figure | Confidence |
|---|---|---|
| Total capacity | 9.5 litres | Ninja UK; every source agrees |
| Capacity per drawer | 4.75 litres each, two drawers | Ninja UK and TechRadar both state 4.75 l |
| Usable drawer space | 16.5 cm wide × 21.3 cm long × 14 cm deep; 11 cm with the crisper plate in | KitchenMason measured it. Nobody else publishes this |
| What a drawer holds | Up to a 2 kg chicken, or up to 1.4 kg of chips | Ninja’s claim, repeated by Very |
| Which?’s capacity figure | 2.2 kg maximum | Which? measures differently — see the disagreements below |
| Power | 2,470 W | Ninja UK, Ideal Home, Currys and Which? all agree |
| Running cost, flat out | ≈ 64p per hour at 26.11p/kWh; ≈ 65p from 1 October | Our arithmetic from Ofgem’s capped unit rate — see below |
| Annual running cost | £45.55 a year | Which?, publicly visible on its review page |
| Dimensions | 32.5 cm H × 41.5 cm W × 27 cm D (325 × 415 × 270 mm) | Ninja, Currys, TechRadar, Ideal Home, Mumsnet — five sources, one number |
| Which?’s dimensions | 44 cm W × 38 cm D × 33 cm H | Notably larger. We think this includes clearance; Which? does not say |
| Weight | 8.8 kg | TechRadar and Currys |
| Functions | Six: Max Crisp, Air Fry, Roast, Bake, Reheat, Dehydrate | Ninja UK; Currys lists the same six |
| Dual-zone modes | SYNC (different foods, same finish time) and MATCH (same settings both drawers) | Ninja UK and Currys |
| Max temperature | 240°C on Max Crisp | Trusted Reviews cooked hash browns at this setting |
| Noise | 60.7 dB on a meter | TechRadar, the only measured figure published anywhere |
| Dishwasher safe | Both non-stick drawers and both crisper plates. Currys says all removable parts | Ninja UK. Ideal Home recommends hand-washing anyway |
| In the box | Unit, two non-stick drawers, two crisper plates, instruction booklet, inspiration guide | Ninja UK |
| Guarantee | Three different answers — 2 years (Currys), 2 years but only on registration (Ninja), 1 year plus 1 on registration (Very) | Register it either way. See the disagreements below |
| RRP | £229.99 | TechRadar and Trusted Reviews at launch. Nobody charges it now |
| Live UK prices, 18 Sep 2026 | £189 at Very (£179 on a stock tracker the same day); from £165 on idealo; out of stock at Currys, Argos and John Lewis | Checked 18 September 2026 |
The running cost, worked out in front of you
Air fryer running costs get quoted badly, so here is the arithmetic. The AF400UK draws 2,470 W — that is 2.47 kW, and it is the figure for the whole machine with both zones going, not per drawer. Ofgem’s price cap for 1 July to 30 September 2026 sets the average direct-debit electricity unit rate at 26.11 pence per kWh. So 2.47 × 26.11p = 64.5 pence for one hour at full draw. A 25-minute batch of chips is 2.47 × (25 ÷ 60) × 26.11p = about 27 pence.
Two honest qualifications. First, it does not pull 2,470 W continuously — the element cycles once it reaches temperature, so the real figure is lower than 27p and your actual bill depends on what you cook. Second, the cap changes on 1 October 2026, when the electricity unit rate goes to 26.32 pence per kWh and the daily standing charge drops from 57.19p to 54.83p. That nudges the full-power hour to roughly 65 pence. Ofgem also notes there is no VAT on electricity from 1 October 2026 to 31 March 2027, which makes the two periods awkward to compare directly.
Which? publishes an annual running cost of £45.55 on its public review page, which is the figure to quote if you want one number rather than our per-hour working.
TechRadar
This is the hands-on bench test, and its single most valuable contribution is a number nobody else has bothered to produce: 60.7 dB on a decibel meter, which TechRadar likens to the gentle hum of a refrigerator. Every other source describes the noise in adjectives. If you cook in an open-plan kitchen with a television in it, that is the figure that decides whether this machine annoys you, and it is the reason we lead with this source despite its age.
On cooking, Skinner is straightforwardly positive: homemade and frozen chips came out with crisp, crunchy exteriors and soft, fluffy insides, and chicken wings had crisp golden skin with the meat still succulent. She confirms the physical figures the rest of the internet repeats — 32.5 × 41.5 × 27 cm, 8.8 kg, 4.75 litres per drawer — and the £229.99 launch RRP.
The criticisms are the ones that survived five years. Browning is uneven, and there is no shake reminder to tell you to intervene — a genuine omission on a machine at this price, and one Trusted Reviews independently ran into when its chips needed two or three shakes. The design is bulky. And at launch it was expensive against rivals, which is the one complaint that has since fixed itself.
Watch: Ninja Foodi MAX Dual Zone AF400UK 9.5L Air Fryer Unboxing, Test and Review
An unboxing and cooking test of the same model. We confirmed this video exists from two separate search listings but could not open it, so we cannot tell you who made it.
Watch on YouTube ↗KitchenMason
This is the long-haul source: a food blogger who bought the AF400UK, has used it almost daily for a whole year, and calls it one of the best kitchen purchases she has ever made. Treat that enthusiasm with the usual caution for a blog that runs affiliate links — but she earns her place here by doing something no editorial test did.
She measured the inside of the drawers. Each one is 16.5 cm wide, 21.3 cm long and 14 cm deep — and only 11 cm deep once the crisper plate is in, which is the configuration you will actually cook in most of the time. That is the number that tells you whether a whole chicken or a tray of roast potatoes fits, and “4.75 litres” does not. Her practical read is that the machine comfortably feeds a family of four or five.
On cost she is useful but unquantified: she reports needing only three to five minutes of preheat against fifteen to twenty for an oven, cooking times down by around 20 per cent, and a belief that she has saved money on energy bills. That is a plausible mechanism, not a measurement, and it is why we did our own arithmetic above rather than lean on it. She does not cover noise, dishwasher results or wattage at all. Her stated price expectation is £180 to £260.
Watch: Ninja Foodi MAX Dual Zone Air Fryer AF400UK UK Review! - Ninja Dual Air Fryer Review UK
A UK owner review of the AF400UK, the same territory Emma Mason covers in writing. Confirmed by search listing only.
Watch on YouTube ↗Feefo, via Currys
Volume with verification attached. Feefo will not take a review from someone who did not buy the thing, which puts this well ahead of an open ratings box — and 554 ratings in a single year is a real sample, not a handful. One caveat on provenance we will not paper over: the page sits under Currys’ Irish Feefo account rather than the UK one, so some of these buyers may have bought in Ireland.
The praise is monotonously consistent and it is all about the two drawers. One buyer’s phrasing is representative: two baskets and two timers makes easy work of preparing foods with different cooking instructions. Chips come up again and again — crispy, quick, not dried out — along with “easy to use” and “easy to clean”.
The complaints are the useful part, and they sharpen TechRadar’s measurement. Noise is the most frequent gripe, and it splits in two: several buyers single out the end-of-cook beeper as excessively loud, which is a separate annoyance from the fan and one no reviewer measured. On the fan itself buyers directly contradict each other — one calls it “quite loud”, another “very quiet even with the two cookers going”. Uneven cooking recurs here too, with one buyer wanting a rotating basket like Tefal’s. Price comes up as a drawback even at sale prices, and there are scattered notes about basket rack height and build quality.
Watch: NINJA FOODI MAX DUAL ZONE AIR FRYER AF400UK REVIEW - IS A NINJA FOODI DUAL ZONE AIR FRYER WORTH IT?
A buyer-perspective review asking the is-it-worth-it question these 554 ratings answer in aggregate. Confirmed by search listing only.
Watch on YouTube ↗Strengths and weak points
What holds up
- SYNC and MATCH genuinely work, and every source independently rates them the reason to buy.
- Fast: hash browns in 11 minutes against a typical 20; a schnitzel cut from 30 minutes to 12.
- 9.5 litres across two 4.75-litre drawers feeds four or five without a second batch.
- 60.7 dB measured — a fridge hum, not a hairdryer.
- Both drawers and both crisper plates go in the dishwasher.
- 4.8/5 from 554 verified buyers is a strong score on a real sample.
- Running cost is genuinely modest: roughly 27p for a 25-minute batch, £45.55 a year by Which?’s figure.
- It has been on sale for years, so the street price is well under RRP.
What people complain about
- Uneven browning without shaking — flagged by TechRadar, Trusted Reviews and buyers alike.
- No shake reminder, on a machine that needs shaking.
- The end-of-cook beeper is loud, and there is no published way to mute it.
- 41.5 cm wide and 8.8 kg. This lives on the worktop permanently.
- No window in either drawer, so checking means pulling the drawer out.
- Only 11 cm of usable depth once the crisper plate is in.
- Light foods like kale chips fly into the heating element and burn.
- Stock is erratic — Currys, Argos and John Lewis were all out on the day we checked.
- The guarantee is described three different ways by three different sellers.
Who it actually suits
Buy it if you cook for three or more, you have 45 cm of worktop you are willing to surrender permanently, and you routinely want two things ready at once — chips and chicken, or a main and a side. That is precisely the problem SYNC solves, and it is why this machine is still the reference point five years on. Buy it at £165 to £190; that is what it is worth.
Look elsewhere if you cook for one or two, in which case the 7.6-litre AF300UK does the same job in less space for less money. Skip it too if your kitchen has no permanent home for a 41.5 cm box, if a loud end-of-cook beeper in an open-plan room would grate, or if you want to watch food cook — this one has no windows and no shake prompt, so you are setting timers and opening drawers.
What we could not check
- Who made the three videos. This is the biggest gap on the page. We could not open youtube.com, so we verified each video the alternative way: every watch URL and its exact title appeared in two differently-worded search listings. That confirms the videos exist and are about this model. It does not give us the channel names, and none of the search snippets carried them. We have not guessed. Treat all three as unattributed.
- Which?’s test score. Which? has tested the AF400UK (first reviewed March 2024, last checked February 2026) but the score, the Best Buy or Don’t Buy verdict and the full results are behind a £9.99-a-month paywall. Only the running cost, wattage, capacity and dimensions are public, and those are what we have used.
- The dimensions disagreement. Five sources say 41.5 × 27 × 32.5 cm. Which? publishes 44 × 38 × 33 cm. We suspect Which? is quoting a footprint that includes rear clearance, but it does not say so, and we are not going to assert it. Plan for the larger number — this appliance vents hot air backwards and needs air behind it either way.
- The capacity disagreement. Ninja says a drawer takes a 2 kg chicken or 1.4 kg of chips; Which? gives a maximum capacity of 2.2 kg for the whole machine. Those are almost certainly measuring different things, but neither publishes its method.
- The guarantee. Three sellers, three answers. Ninja UK’s own page says “a 2-year guarantee upon registration with Ninja (UK & ROI only)”, which reads as conditional. Currys states a flat 2 years. Very states 1 year plus an additional year on registration. Ninja’s own guarantee-registration help page did not resolve it and we could not find a public document that does. Register the machine the day it arrives — that is the only action that is right under all three readings.
- The exact clearance Ninja requires. No source we found publishes a manufacturer minimum gap at the rear or above. The manual will state it; check it before you push the machine against a wall or under a shelf.
- Whether the beeper can be silenced. Buyers complain about it repeatedly and no source says whether there is a mute.
- Live prices at Argos and Currys. Both product pages render their prices in JavaScript and would not give us a figure, and a price-history tracker returned 403. Our Argos and Currys readings come from stock trackers rather than the shops’ own pages, and all three were showing out of stock on 18 September 2026 in any case.
- Long-term reliability. Nobody has published a failure-rate study. The longest first-hand account we found is one year.
- Energy rating. Air fryers carry no mandatory EU/UK energy label, so there is no letter grade to quote — only wattage and the running-cost arithmetic above.
Sources and prices last checked 18 September 2026. Air fryer prices move constantly and the electricity unit rate changes on 1 October 2026 — check both against what is in front of you before ordering.