Product Description

T-fal FZ7000001 ActiFry Low-Fat Healthy Dishwasher Safe Multi-Cooker, White

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2673 in Kitchen & Housewares
• Size: 1 kg
• Color: White
• Brand: T-fal
• Model: FZ7000002
• Platform: Windows
• Format: CD-ROM
• Number of items: 1
• Dimensions: 9.40" h x 13.60" w x 16.70" l, 8.91 pounds

Features

• 2.2 -pound-capacity electric low-fat multi-cooker with patented stirring paddle and pulsating heat system
• Cook a variety of full meals easily and quickly using little-to-no oil
• Easy 2 button operation; See through steam-free lid; ceramic coated nonstick aluminum pan: PTFE and PFOA free.
• No pre-heating needed - constant cooking temperature of 338-degree F.
• Easy to clean - dishwasher-safe lid, pan, paddle and filter; color recipe book (38 recipes) and measuring spoon included.
• Measures 16.7 by 13.6 by 9.4 inches; weight: 8.9 lbs. Power: 1450W, 12A; 1-year limited warranty; Made in France

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Customer Reviews

Most helpful customer reviews

1499 of 1518 people found the following review helpful.
Excellent fried food, cheap materials
By Melissa Almeida
I have received my Actifry this week. The potatoes I fried here came out perfectly fried. Imagine the best french fries you have tasted but without the greasy feeling and oil dripping from them. The oil you will find on the fries once they are ready is virtually invisible. If you want them very crispy, just let them fry a little longer than the specified time. If you like them tender on the inside, follow the specified time provided on the user's manual which is around 40 minutes for 2 1/5 pounds.

So far I have tried frying potatoes, bananas, nuggets and onions. All came out with brilliant results and what's best, using minimal oil. They all looked and tasted just like fried but were not greasy. And they were very crispy.

The only drawback is the quality of this gadget that was clearly not made to last. I have used mine 6 times only and the paddle has already stopped working twice for no apparent reason. The paddle was attached correctly and no food was blocking it from turning around. I had to turn off the unit several times before the paddle resumed working on both occasions. So I guess this will not last much since it has been used only a few times.

The Actifry has been around on Europe for some years now and I have found several people complaining about the product quality. It is not unusual to find reviews of people having it exchanged or fixed twice during the one year warranty time.

I would expect something so expensive to last a lot longer. If someone else finds the same issue with the paddle please comment.

UPDATE (01/08/2010):

I recommend checking Amazon's website in UK if you are interested in more reviews of this appliance. There you will find 240 reviews of Actifry.

My Actifry is being used around 5 times/week and sometimes the paddle still stops turning, but I find that removing and inserting it back usually solves the problem in no time. I am still ve ry satisfied with the food it produces, but really wish that Tefal would improve the durability of this item.

UPDATE (02/02/2010 - One star removed from the 3-stars-rating, now only 2 stars):

I would like to point some flaws I have found on the unit until now. There really is a lot of room for improvement by Tefal:

1. The paddle sometimes stops turning for no reason at all, as I have already described above;

2. The piece that attaches the panhandle to the pan consists of two screws and a small piece of plastic that goes all the way down the side of the pan. More than a HUNDRED times I had to run to the machine because I could hear the paddle had got stuck and could not turn. ALL THESE TIMES the reason was that the food had got stuck due to this little piece of plastic and the paddle could not turn anymore because it was blocked by the food. Would it have been so difficult to attach the handle without this small piece of plastic? I truly doubt it;

3. The paddle would be so much easier to clean if it was not hollow on the bottom. Lots of food pieces enter the several small holes which seem to be there just to make it awkward to clean;

4. The plastic lid cover gets cracked by the heat the machine delivers! I have never removed this cover to clean, so it can't have been dropped or badly handled during clean ups. However, a crack has appeared at the front of the plastic lid cover. All I can think of is that heat from the machine during its normal operation cycle has made it crack.

In my opinion, the downsides of this machine outweigh the great results it delivers. That is really a pity since this machine could have been much better designed and the use of higher quality materials shouldn't add much to such a steep price.

UPDATE - 04/09/2010

This week, the paddle has finally stopped turning for good. And the plastic lid cover seems to crack a little bit more each time I use it. Luckily it is still in the warranty period since I bought it 6 months ago. So that was the lifetime of my Actifry - 6 months.

222 of 231 people found the following review helpful.
Excellent Idea - Questionable quality for the price
By Jules
I've had the T-Fal Actifry for 3 months now, and I've loved it for making large batches of low-fat fries, sauteed onions, mushrooms, and vegetables.

After what I consider light to normal use (using it every few days for a cooking task) the gray plastic molded piece underneath the removable pan has developed a crack. The crack doesn't affect the cooking (yet) and I'll be continuing to use the machine for large batches, but at $250, the ActiFry machine seems very overpriced for something that only holds up to 3 months of light use before developing cracks.

Based on other reviews here, I also recently purchased a KitchenStir KS1000 Chef's Stir Pan, and I'd like to point out the differences between the two machines for those thinking of purchasing one.

The KitchenStir (roughly $80) is a much smaller machine, so you cannot get as large a batch cooked as with the Actifry. (On the plus side, the KitchenStir has a much smaller footprint, which mak es storage a bit easier.)

The Actifry does not have variable temperature control, it has one temperature, and that makes the cooking slower than the Kitchenstir. You can take the temperature up high enough with the Kitchenstir to cook raw potatoes to completely "air fried" in half the time using the Kitchenstir. (Keep in mind, it's going to be a smaller batch, but I get enough for 2 generous servings in about 12 minutes, versus 22-24 minutes in the Actifry. Same quantity of potatoes.)

Cleanup is fairly easy for both, the Actifry has more parts that have to be taken apart for a thorough cleaning, (and I do recommend hand cleaning), but the non-stick surface makes it quick for both machines.

Neither machine has an automatic shutoff, so you do have to keep an eye on them, just like any cooking pot.

The Actifry really needs to be used with large batches. It doesn't flip and turn things over if the volume of food is not enough to pus h up against itself to force it over the high paddle. If there isn't enough food in the pan, it just makes a circuit, around and around the pan on top of the paddle.

The KitchenStir can be used with liquids, completely submerging the stir paddle, making it great for soups, and reductions. I haven't tried liquids in the Actifry, but the cookbook does list some liquid use as an option. (Still it's mainly an oven, so I wouldn't try to make soup in it.)

The KitchenStir has an automatic setting for the stir paddle, which gives an intermittent stir, rather than a constant rotation. This is good for easily broken items that just need an occasional stir. The Actifry has one constant stir motion that is not adjustable.

The low temperature settings on the KitchenStir KS1000 model are still high enough to simmer a full volume of liquid. It's mainly for medium to high heat cooking. (They sell a different model to be used for low temp cooking. The l ower temp model does not have the high temperature range.)

The open vent on the top of the KitchenStir can burn you with heated steam, so be very careful around it. Also, the vent comes with a metal mesh filter in the lid that can flake off bits of sharp metal! I just removed the filter from the lid. No tools required, the plastic housing pops open. (I can't imagine what that could do to a person who accidentally ate it!)

Bottom line, each machine has it's advantages and disadvantages. For a couple, The KitchenStir has more flexibility. For a larger family, you might find the Actifry to be worth the price, so you can get the volume you need. Both machines are great time savers.

229 of 252 people found the following review helpful.
Not perfect, but great
By Nip-Tuck-Fan
I bought this in 2008 in Germany and use it every day for perfect fries and everything else pre-cooked or pre-fried. First of all: it is important to understand that it's more like an oven than a frier. Never made home-made fries, frozen works for me. In less than 20 mins I get my side order. If you cook more, like 2 pounds, you will need more time.
I have never had a serious issue with the machine. I broke the lid while cleaning it (it is NOT dish-washer safe as I learned) and Tefal sent me a new one next day for free (I am happy we have 2-year-warranties in Europe, it's the law here). I also bake frozen rolls, spring rolls, fish sticks, breaded shrimp, chroissants, even small pizza slices etc. etc. Maybe it is not good to share this, but sometimes I just take the rotating arm out (for bigger items) and use it without - which is against instructions but works great.
What bothers me is that the 'timer' does not switch the machine off and its' signal is drowned in the overall noise of the machine. If you don't wait next to it, you won't even notice the alarm. Maybe this has been improved though by now.
Bottom line: It is absolutely overpriced considering the quality of this 'pot'. But it is not if you consider the benefit of healthier fries. And they do taste much better than from the oven. If you eat a lot of pre-fried food and want a healthier, easier way to cook them, this is the one for you. It might also save some energy compared to heating the 'big oven' just for a few fries.