Is the Breville Smart Oven Air Fryer Pro worth it?
Worth it, if you'll actually use more than the toast button
Why your counter has three appliances doing one job
Picture your counter right now: the toaster, the air fryer, maybe a dehydrator tray still in the box from last holiday season. You reach for one, then need another a few minutes later, and the whole thing turns into a shuffle of unplugging and replugging just to get dinner on the table. That's the itch a Breville Smart Oven Air Fryer review keeps landing on: can one box on your counter actually replace all of that, or is it just one more thing to find room for?
How the Element iQ system actually controls the heat
Here's what I'd want to know first: how does a single oven claim to toast, roast, air fry and slow cook without turning into a mediocre version of all four? The answer is the Element iQ system. Instead of one heating element switching on and off, there are five separate quartz elements, and a smart algorithm decides which ones fire, and how hard, depending on what you've asked the oven to do. Toast mode pushes heat from the top, bread mode balances top and bottom, slow cook barely uses any element at all. A sensor reads the actual temperature inside the cavity the whole time, so instead of the usual home oven swing, hot then cooler then hot again, it holds steady. That's the bit the listing buries: precise heat control matters far more for cooking than raw wattage does. Then there's the fan. Air frying and dehydrating both depend on moving a lot of hot air across the food fast, so the fan has a super speed setting that pushes more air than the regular convection setting used for baking or roasting. Crisp fries and dried fruit come out of the same drum, just with the fan working differently. And because the interior is genuinely large, big enough for a whole turkey or a five quart Dutch oven, you're not choosing between capacity and precision the way you usually do with countertop ovens. The LCD display does the unglamorous job of telling you when preheat is actually done, so you stop guessing and start cooking on time.
So the real trade isn't oven versus air fryer, it's one precisely controlled box versus several small appliances fighting for outlet space. The five elements and the sensor are what let it handle all thirteen functions without babying any single one, and that's the whole point of paying for this instead of a basic toaster oven.
Who the Breville Smart Oven Air Fryer Pro is really for
Worth it if
- you regularly cook for a family or batch cook meals
- you currently juggle a toaster, air fryer and dehydrator separately
- you air fry, roast and bake often enough to want one dependable machine
- you have real counter space to dedicate to it
Skip it if
- you mostly toast bread and reheat leftovers
- your counter space is genuinely tight
- you want the cheapest option in the category rather than the most capable one
If you cook simply and rarely go past toast or reheat, this is too much oven for you.
The Breville Smart Oven Air Fryer Pro verdict
If you're feeding a family or you genuinely use more than two or three of these functions in a normal week, this is a quiet yes, it earns its counter space. If you mostly toast bread and reheat pizza, you're paying for elements you'll never ask it to fire.
The genuine relief here is smaller than it sounds: no more juggling the toaster, the air fryer and the dehydrator tray for one meal. Day one probably looks like unboxing it, running an empty preheat once to clear the manufacturing smell, then air frying a tray of fries just to watch the fan actually crisp them without you babysitting the timer. A lot of the people who've bought one describe exactly that, an oven that quietly takes over jobs from smaller appliances rather than becoming another gadget they had to relearn.
Amazon shoppers rate it 4.5 out of 5 across 13,058 ratings. That is their number, not ours.
Before you go
Is the Breville Smart Oven Air Fryer Pro big enough to replace a regular oven?
It's large enough for a 14 pound turkey or a 9x13 pan, so it can stand in for a full oven on most weeknights, though it's not a substitute for large-scale holiday roasting.
Does the Breville Smart Oven Air Fryer Pro air fry as well as a standalone air fryer?
Yes, the super convection setting pushes a greater volume of hot air than the regular convection setting specifically for air frying, so crisping works the same way a dedicated air fryer does.
How many functions does the Breville Smart Oven Air Fryer Pro have?
Thirteen, covering everything from toast and bagel to slow cook, proof and dehydrate, all controlled through the Element iQ system rather than one basic heating element.
Is the Breville Smart Oven Air Fryer Pro worth the price compared to a cheaper toaster oven?
Only if you'll actually use more than a couple of its functions regularly, since the price mostly buys precise multi-element heat control rather than extra features you won't touch.
By the numbers
We have reviewed 181 kitchen products. 91% land where this one does: worth it, with a condition attached. Only 9% earn an unconditional yes at full price. Every verdict is published as open data in the Is It Worth It Reviews Verdict Dataset (CC BY 4.0).
Full spec sheet
| Brand Name | Breville |
|---|---|
| Included Components | 13" Pizza Pan., 9"x13" Broil Rack and Enamel Roasting Pan., Mesh basket rack for dehydr… |
| Model Name | BOV900BSSUSC |
| Model Number | BOV900BSSUSC |
| Number of Items | 1 |
| Item Type Name | Air Fryer Pro and Convection Oven |
| Part Number | BOV900BSS |
| Unit Count | 1 Count |
Keep comparing
More kitchen reviews.
Wondering about the category itself? Is an Air Fryer Worth It? An Honest Answer
We also post kitchen verdicts on YouTube, Tumblr, Mastodon, Bluesky.