Best Nuwave Brio Air Fryer: Which Size Fits Your Kitchen?

The 6-Qt is the Brio we would buy again, and it is the one the rest of this page measures against. Linear T checks the chamber temperature 120 times per second, so 400°F stays near 400°F, and the wings came out crisp with nothing more than salt, pepper and a misting of oil.

Pulling out the basket brings the heavy drip-tray shell with it; press the handle's release button to separate them. The drawer is stiff during the first few uses. The 1500W and 1800W settings cook best, while 900W is noticeably slower. It is loud enough to notice.

Longevity is the real question, because the heating element or power base tends to die first. When one unit quit around six months in, NuWave replaced it within four days once we contacted them with proof of purchase, which is the kind of support that makes the coating risk easier to live with.

Step down from the 6-Qt and the 3-Qt trades capacity for counter space: it is quick, crisps well and comes apart easily for cleaning, which suits a single cook or a dorm-sized counter. It holds about 1.5 pounds of fries or two chicken breasts, so anyone feeding more than two people will be batch-cooking. Melted cheese is hard to remove from the basket.

The latch is where this model lets you down. The drawer can stop registering as closed and needs slamming, and the plastic clip and seal strip can fail within the first few weeks to months.

Move up to the 8-Qt and the batch problem goes away, because it cooks evenly and turns out crisp fries, wings and Brussels sprouts. The basket fits a meal for three, and the divider lets two foods cook at once. It is quiet enough that the beeps are the main sound, and the wire rack pops out of the tray for a quick wash because food does not stick to the grate.

The coating is where wear shows: the nonstick starts peeling after extended use, and doors and heaters can quit anywhere from one month to 13 months in. The built-in handles help when sliding it under a range hood, which matters given the footprint.

This is the non-Plus 8-Qt with an integrated digital thermometer. It pairs 1800W with a 50-400°F range, 100 presets and 50 memory slots, plus Linear T control. It is the step up when a 6-quart basket forces two rounds at dinner.

Where the 6-Qt is loud, the Plus 8-Qt runs quiet, and it also cooks evenly and makes good fries. The basket holds three to four chicken breasts or a heap of tater tots. It preheats quickly and runs more quietly than the 6-Qt, with only an occasional beep.

Its ceramic coating is where wear shows, with peeling after a year or so, and one unit's door failed at about 13 months. Heat loss is the more worrying failure. On another unit that lost its heat in under a year, we set the dial to 400°F and a probe thermometer in the closed basket topped out at 265°F, nowhere near enough to crisp anything. The unit still ran and beeped, so nothing on the display warned us the heater had faded. It vents hot air from the top back, so leave a few inches of wall clearance.

Compared with the plainer 6-Qt, this one ships with baskets, a divider, a grill pan and a probe, and it handles up to about 6 pounds of food.

The downsides show up early. It can smell strongly on first use, the bucket coating can peel early, and parts have come apart within five weeks on some units.

The 15.5-Qt oven switches from baskets to removable racks and handles both grilled steak and baked cupcakes well. Preheat runs from very fast to nearly as long as a full oven. Bare meat is where it disappoints: un-breaded chicken thighs came out pale and steamed-looking rather than browned, so frozen fries, tots and anything breaded suit it far better.

Rotisserie is the headline feature, but the tall narrow cavity limits a whole chicken, and it holds only about five thighs at once. The touchpad is oversensitive, and the door and glass are the weak point in long-term use, with cracked plastic and shattered glass possible.