Forget air fryers – this Miele oven is the new appliance you’ll want for your kitchen

It’s almost impossible to set foot in someone’s kitchen without seeing an air fryer sat in pride of place on the worktop. The best air fryers have easily been the most popular cooking appliance for the past few years, and have almost completely replaced ovens in most people’s kitchens… but Miele’s new oven is looking to change that.

The Miele H2766BP-1 Oven has taken the traditional features and design of the best ovens and added extra cooking functions that you’d typically see from air fryers and multi-cookers. The ovens’ automatic programmes mean you can easily select the specific food you’re baking, like a cake or lasagne, and the oven will take care of everything for you, without you having to adjust the timings or temperatures.

Similar to an air fryers’ set-up, the Miele H2766BP-1 Oven has rotary controls and a clear touchscreen display where you can customise your meals. Alongside its pre-set automatic cooking functions, the Miele H2766BP-1 Oven also has different operating modes, including grill, fan plus, eco fan heat, convection heat, intensive bake, fan grill and AirFry.

With the Miele H2766BP-1 Oven’s AirFry function, the oven works to circulate a hot air stream around the interior, to perfectly cook your food without adding excess fat. The hot air movement also delivers crunchy and crispy air fryer-like results to chips, chicken, vegetables and other foods.

Other notable features of the Miele H2766BP-1 Oven is its soft open and close door, and its sleek built-in design. The fan oven is also compatible with the Miele app and voice commands so you can add smart technology to your oven and kitchen set-up.

Taking what an air fryer does best and putting it in an oven is a great way for manufacturers to avoid ovens being phased out from the kitchen. At IFA 2023, I saw a few ovens (expected to launch this year) being equipped with air fryer settings and attachments, so it seems that many oven brands are thinking this is the solution to overcome the air fryer’s popularity.

While the cost of living crisis is expected to slow down this year, monthly bills are still on the rise. In our comparison of air fryer vs oven, air fryers took the win as they’re far less expensive to buy and run than an oven. The cost-saving aspect and many other reasons all make it unsurprising that air fryers are being favoured over ovens and I highly doubt they’ll become obsolete anytime soon.

But, having an oven in your kitchen is still extremely convenient, especially if you have a big family or want a larger cooking capacity. I think giving ovens other cooking functions like air frying will definitely appeal to people and while the upfront cost will still be expensive, I imagine more people will look to buy an oven with an air fryer function than one without in the future.

Time will tell if ovens with air fryer features will catch on, but I expect we’ll be seeing lots more models like the Miele H2766BP-1 Oven hit the market in 2024. The Miele H2766BP-1 Oven is available to buy at Miele now for £1,449.