Our Place’s Wonder Oven Pro Convinced Me Air Fryers Are Worth It

It took me a while to jump on the air fryer bandwagon. When the first generation of the appliance dropped almost 15 years ago, I didn’t get the fuss over a glorified convection oven. But while I ate those words pretty quickly — along with some perfectly crispy French fries — I couldn’t shake a certain skepticism over the average air fryer’s materials. Didn’t it bother anyone else that so many of them were teeming with Teflon?

But Our Place changed my mind with the Wonder Oven Pro, designed in collaboration with the ever-brilliant chef and writer J. Kenji López-Alt. With eight distinct cooking functions, plenty of useful accessories, chic finishes, and a ceramic coating — which is, crucially, nonstick and non-toxic — it’s an air fryer I can get behind.

Our Place Wonder Oven Pro

Now, this isn’t Our Place’s first air fryer — we tested the original Wonder Oven, too — but the Pro is an upgrade on the first model in several ways. For one, the Pro offers three additional functions: proof, broil, and dehydrate. In total, the Pro can air fry, roast, toast, bake, proof, broil, reheat, and dehydrate. Naturally, I tested all of the settings.

The broil function made speedy work of my weeknight salmon, and the proof function was ideal for focaccia and pizza dough. Chicken cutlets crisped up on the outside but stayed juicy and tender on the inside, and my French fries came out fat and crispy. I’ve always painstakingly dried citrus wheels for garnishing cocktails in my traditional oven, but now the Wonder Oven’s taken over that task. And it’s large enough that I could toast three slices of brioche side by side without them touching, let alone overlapping. I even baked six hulking blueberry muffins that came out with a tender, plush crumb.

The ceramic nonstick coating did a great job of remaining slick, and food slipped right off the tray when it was ready. It’s also important to me that the surfaces I cook most on are toxin-free, especially given mounting evidence that forever chemicals and microplastics in cookware and food are compromising our health. Needless to say, I was thrilled to work with an appliance made of ceramic, glass, and stainless steel — and not just the air fryer itself, but also the air fryer basket and baking tray that come with the machine.

The digital control panel is intuitive to use, a combination of a touchscreen and analog dials that control time, temperature, and lighting. The timer goes up to 24 hours for long projects, like dehydrating or proofing. And folks — it’s fast. The brand touts that the Wonder Oven Pro’s speeds are about 40% faster than a traditional oven, and my test came out a little faster than that. My frozen chicken cutlets that normally take 30 minutes at 400°F were done in 16 minutes, flat. Apparently, the Wonder Oven Pro’s upgraded quartz and stainless steel heating elements are to thank for the speedier cooking.

All of these upgrades do come with a potential drawback, though: The Wonder Oven Pro is big. I live in an apartment with extremely limited counter space, and if the appliance were any less good, I’d be reluctant to sacrifice the real estate for it. It helps that the Pro replaces three or four separate appliances, and that it’s built for three-tier cooking, so I can cook multiple ingredients simultaneously and get dinner on the table quicker. But if you’re swimming in counter space, the size may be less of a hindrance for you. 

It’s also worth noting that five of the settings work best when you preheat the machine — Our Place is clear in its instructions about which ones those are, and the preheat is lightning fast regardless. I used my oven thermometer to confirm the Pro’s internal temperature, and it was at the target heat level within five minutes every time. 

I’ll keep testing the Wonder Oven Pro so I can share all of its best features. But for now, the Wonder Oven Pro feels like a professional-grade appliance that every home kitchen needs. If you’re willing to give it a little counter space, it may well replace your traditional oven for most things, like it has done for me.

Shop More Air Fryers

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At the time of publishing, the Wonder Oven Pro’s price started at $325.