Philips 3000 Series Dual Basket review: An air fryer designed for foodies

If you're one of those people who uses more than one temperature on your oven, the Philips 3000 is the air fryer for you. Some of the best air fryers I've tested will turbo blast everything from veggies to bacon, no matter how low I set the temperature. The Philips 3000 Dual Zone though? This is an air fryer designed by people who cook more than just nuggets. I've tested Philips air fryers before, and always found that they put in a premium performance that won't dry out chicken or burn potatoes. This Dual Zone is no exception.

One of its most interesting features is its unevenly-divided cooking sections. The smaller drawer fits around 3 quarts, and the second 6 quarts, making it comparable in size to many standalone fryers. This interesting design is ideal for cooking smaller items without having to heat up a full, large fryer, and won't make you feel like you're losing out on a large cooking space when you want to roast a big batch of vegetables.

I've been testing the Philips 3000 Dual Zone in my kitchen for well over a month, and while there are a few quirks, there's no denying that this is a quality air fryer that's perfect for couples. Here's my verdict.

Philips 3000 Dual Zone review: Price and availability

I think you do well for your money with Philips air fryers. They're some of the sturdiest I've tried, and they cost around the same as Ninja and Instant. With that said, they're a premium price compared to the likes of Bella and Dash. The Philips 3000 Dual Zone retails for $199 at Amazon, although it's currently down to $149.

In the UK, where I tested, you'll pay £179 for the Philips 3000 Dual Zone. Again though, it's down to £149 at Amazon right now.

Philips 3000 Dual Zone review: First impressions

The Philips 3000 Dual Zone looks modern without being garish. I really like the design of the handles, and the control panel offers the convenience of touchscreen without feeling too plasticky or flimsy. As you can see in the photo above though, I found that my greasy fingerprints marked the plastic exterior of this machine relatively easily.

All Philips air fryers feature a patented starfish-shaped groove on the base of their baskets. This is designed to increase airflow in the basket, and in my experience, it's always worked quite well. However, it does make cleaning trickier, and it also means you can't take out the basket insert and cook straight onto the base, like you can with air fryers that have a flat bottom.

The larger removable basket has a high-sided insert that will take up a bit more space in your dishwasher, but I do like how well it stays put inside the basket thanks to its rubberized grips. Interestingly, the smaller basket has a plate-like insert that's more akin to the inserts you'll find with Ninja and Instant air fryers. This does leave you with more cooking space, which is handy for such a small cooking compartment.

The Philips 3000 has a max temperature of 400°F, or 200°C. That's pretty standard for most air fryers. There's also the option to sync the cooking times across the baskets to cook two elements of a meal with the same finished cooking time. You can also copy across your temperature and time settings from one basket to another, which is good for when you're cooking a big batch of something and want to use both baskets for one type of food.

This air fryer comes with pre-set cooking modes for fish, frozen food, chicken, etc. It's well-documented in just about every air fryer review I've ever written that I find these a bit useless, because not all frozen food will take the same amount of time to cook, or require the same temperature. The same is true for fish, and chicken, and all of the other pre-sets on this (or any) fryer. Luckily though, they're quite discreet on the control panel, and they didn't get in the way or become annoying like I found with the Cosori TurboBlaze 6-quart.

Philips 3000 Dual Zone review: Performance

Roasting vegetables

One of the first things I cooked in the Philips 3000 was some cubed butternut squash. That's right, I cook vegetables in my air fryer, and you should too! These came out well caramelized, and despite forgetting to shake them halfway through cooking (the air fryer does remind you, so that's on me) they still came out caramelized and evenly-cooked, although not as crispy as I expected. I was able to fit an entire squash inside the larger basket, which was pretty impressive.

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I've also used this air fryer to roast broccoli, and while I've found it easy to scorch the stems in other air fryers I've tested, the Philips 3000 did a good job of cooking the broccoli on a lower temperature without burning it to a crisp. If you like cooking at lower temperatures, you can feel confident with this air fryer that it's actually adjusting its heat levels accurately.

Air frying frozen food

It wouldn't be an air fryer review without some oven fries. I set the oven at its maxiumum temperature of 400°F and left it running for 20 minutes, which would usually be more than enough time in my Ninja Pro 4-in-1. After the 20 minutes was up though, I actually thought the fries could be a bit crispier, so I put them in for a bit longer.

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If you want to blast your food with heat for the crispiest finish in the fastest time, I'll cut to the chase and tell you to look elsewhere. This air fryer cooks very evenly, and it's also quite quiet, but there are air fryers that go hotter and cook faster on the market. I didn't mind the extra wait though, and the fries were some of the tastiest I've made in an air fryer. They were fluffy on the inside and crispy outside.

I also cooked some frozen chicken tenders in the smaller drawer, and was impressed at how much actually fits inside. My chicken came out well-cooked and juicy in 20 minutes. I suspect that it took less time to cook than the fries because the basket is smaller.

Cooking bacon

Last time I tested a Philips air fryer, I was impressed (and a bit shocked) at how much oil would always fall underneath the basket inserts. This air fryer renders fat much better than other air fryers I've tried. Again though. when air frying bacon, I was surprised at how long it took. I'm used to air fryers crisping up a few slices of bacon in 6 minutes, but I ended up cooking this bacon for 10 minutes at 350°F.

The result was worth the extra few minutes though. The bacon wasn't overcooked, but because the fat had rendered from it, it had a lovely crispy texture.

Philips 3000 Series Dual Basket review: How does it compare?

Dual Zone air fryers are great, and if you're interested by the fact that this one comes with one larger drawer and one smaller one, there aren't many alternatives like it. But if you're more interested in dual zone fryers more generally, the Ninja Foodi DualZone is worth considering. It has a removable insert that can turn its huge 9-quart basket into two 4.5-quart sections, making it more versatile than the Philips 3000.

The Philips cooks very well, and if you're interested in something that can be trusted with everything from fries to steak, the Dreo ChefMaker Combi Fryer is definitely worth considering. It's smaller than the Philips 3000, but has an in-built temperature probe that allows you to monitor food as it cooks.

Philips 3000 Series Dual Basket review: Verdict

I'd trust this air fryer with more than just frozen food. From reheating leftovers to frying salmon, it's got well-controlled heat settings and a smart design that's ideal for couples who tend to cook their entire dinner in the air fryer.

I frequently found myself cooking meat in one drawer and veggies in the other, and when working from home alone I would often throw chicken strips or fishcakes into the smaller drawer for a lunch-for-one. For lack of a better word, this air fryer cooks sensitively. I'd have enjoyed a higher max temperature, and found that food typically took a little longer to cook than I'd expect in your typical air fryer, but the results were definitely worth the wait.

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