Need to know
- Kmart Anko and Philips are popular air fryer brands with models at a range of sizes, styles and prices
- Before choosing a brand, consider what kind of air fryer and features will work best for you
- Our experts test hundreds of kitchen appliances each year. Our latest detailed air fryer review includes 46 models and can help you find the model that best suits you.
The air fryer market continues to grow at a dizzying pace, and people's love for the appliance shows no sign of waning.
Whether you're new to this air frying caper or looking to upgrade your current model to something bigger or better, a few brand names probably keep cropping up in your search for the perfect machine.
Two of them are likely to be Philips and Kmart Anko: they're among the most searched-for air fryer brands on the internet.
Philips and Kmart Anko are among the most searched-for air fryer brands on the internet
We test tens of air fryers each year, and these two brands are often among the models that our kitchen expert and home economist Fiona Mair puts through their paces in our dedicated kitchen lab.
Fiona has tested hundreds of appliances in her 28 years in the CHOICE test kitchen, so we asked for her expert opinion on how these two brands compare.
After 28 years in the CHOICE test kitchen, Fiona really knows her way around appliances.
On this page:
- Kmart Anko vs Philips: Which air fryer brand is best?
- What air fryers does Kmart sell?
- What air fryers does Philips sell?
- Are Kmart air fryers any good?
- Are Philips air fryers any good?
- Kmart and Philips air fryers compared
Kmart Anko vs Philips: Which air fryer brand is best?
What's right for one home cook could be wildly insufficient for another, so there's no 'best' air fryer as such – it all depends on your particular needs.
Your budget, how you cook, what you cook and which features you'd like are just some of the factors that come into play.
But it's also important to take other factors into consideration, such as:
- how reliable a brand's appliances tend to be overall
- the brand's track record for customer service and satisfaction
- technical support and repairability
When it comes to choosing an air fryer, we surveyed 690 CHOICE members to ask them what they think is most important. Ease of cleaning was the most important feature respondents look for in an air fryer, followed by price, ease of use, reliability, large capacity and type.
Brand reliability
Philips is a well-known brand in the appliance world: it's been around since the 1890s, producing a wide range of products from kitchen appliances and TVs through to personal care appliances and smart lighting.
The Dutch company has been making air fryers for around a decade.
Kmart Anko needs no introduction. Like Philips, the budget retailer was early to the air fryer game in Australia and has been selling different iterations of the popular appliance for many years now.
The extremely low price point in comparison to other brands has made Kmart models a very popular choice amongst air fryer enthusiasts.
Anko branded products are now also available at Target, and both stores sell the same range of air fryers, so even if you don't live near a Kmart you may have another option to pick up one of these budget appliances.
Spending more on an appliance won't necessarily guarantee you better performance, quality or longevity
Fiona Mair, CHOICE home economist
Obviously they're very different companies, but they both make very popular air fryers – albeit at different price points.
"Spending more on an appliance won't necessarily guarantee you better performance, quality or longevity, and we've tested many cheaper appliances that outperform appliances costing several times more," says Fiona.
But when you're paying as little as $39 for an air fryer (the cheapest Anko air fryer available), the appliance is likely to be made from cheaper materials – that's how they can produce them for such a low price.
And you might find it harder to have a cheap appliance repaired: it can be difficult to locate replacement parts, and you could end up spending as much (or more) than the purchase price having it repaired by a professional.
On the other hand, established brands like Philips tend to have plenty of spare parts available, easier-to-access customer service, and make their appliances with better quality parts and materials.
Plus, a larger, older company that solely makes appliances can invest more money in research and development in its products than a discount retailer that sells a broad range of products, of which appliances make up only a small part.
When you're paying as little as $39 for an air fryer, it's likely to be made from cheaper materials
Something else to consider is that the more functions an air fryer has, the more there is that can potentially go wrong – whereas a simple, straightforward model has only a few moving parts, so to speak.
Again, it all comes down to what kind of features you want, how much you want to pay, and how you plan to use your air fryer.
Overall brand vs individual model
"Don't assume that just because one product from a brand is good that all their products are," says Fiona.
"In our testing, we sometimes see significant differences in performance between models from the same brand. Buying on brand alone won't necessarily guarantee you'll end up with a good product."
Buying on brand alone won't necessarily guarantee you'll end up with a good product
Fiona Mair, CHOICE home economist
To make sure you're not buying a poor appliance from a good brand, check the results of each model in our detailed air fryer reviews before you buy.
Manufacturing and warranty
Kmart offers a 12-month warranty on its air fryers, which are made in China.
Philips air fryers are also manufactured in China and have a warranty of two years.
Range and price
There's obviously a considerable price difference between Kmart Anko and Philips air fryers, and both brands make a variety of sizes and styles.
Kmart's 12L air fryer oven costs $119.
What air fryers does Kmart sell?
The Anko range currently includes nine air fryers. The range does vary, with models being introduced and discontinued throughout the year, which is why we've currently reviewed four models. These units are also available in Target stores.
- 1.2L mini air fryer: $39
- 5L air fryer: $62
- 5.3L air fryer: $75
- 5.75L air fryer: $79
- 7.5L air fryer: $85
- 6.2L window air fryer: $95
- 9L twin air fryer: $119
- 12L air fryer oven: $119
- 24L air fryer and oven: $145
Are air fryer capacities accurate?
The capacity you see displayed on the box isn't always entirely accurate. Some manufacturers calculate it based on the entire space inside the air fryer, but not the actual cooking space you can use.
One air fryer that supposedly has a 6L capacity actually only fit 4L when our experts measured it.
For newer models, we report on the measured usable capacity, plus the number of chicken nuggets that can fit in a single layer in the cooking basket. (Surely chicken nugget capacity should become a standard measurement for every kitchen item!)
The Philips 7000 Series Combi XXXL air fryer has an RRP of $699.
What air fryers does Philips sell?
At the other end of the price spectrum, Philips' air fryers start at $199 for the single-drawer Air Fryer Essential HD9200/21.
The range extends all the way through to a whopping $699 for the 7000 Series Air fryer Combi XXXL Connected HD9880/90.
It's the most expensive air fryer in our review, the only model that costs more is the multi-cooker with air fryer function, the Ninja Foodi SmartLid Multi Cooker OL650, which is priced at $800.
Philips has 17 air fryers in their range, the models we've tested include:
- Philips Air Fryer Essential HD9200/21: $199
- Philips Essential Airfryer XL HD9270/21: $299
- Philips Air fryer 5000 Series XL HD9280: $349
- Philips 3000 Series Dual Basket Airfryer NA352/00: $399
- Philips 5000 Series Dual Basket Airfryer NA551/00: $499
- Philips 7000 Series Air fryer Combi XXXL Connected HD9880/90: $699
Their latest release is the Philips 4000 Series Stacked Dual Basket Airfryer NA462/70, a contender to the space-saving Ninja DoubleStack XXXL 9.5L 2 Drawer Air Fryer SL400. It's now on our wish list to get in front of our experts to put it to the test.
Are Kmart air fryers any good?
While we can't reveal the results of our rigorous testing (that's available exclusively for CHOICE members), we can tell you more generally how Kmart air fryers have performed, both in our most recent tests and over the years.
Kmart Anko air fryers have been hit and miss. A few have performed quite well, with one even receiving a CHOICE Expert Rating of 84% and being recommended by our experts (this model has since been discontinued). It was rated as 'Excellent' for cooking crumbed chicken, marinated chicken wings and roast pork.
The most recent models we've tested achieved CHOICE Expert Ratings in the 70s, but aren't quite good enough for our experts to recommend them. Some of them were rated as 'Excellent' on some of our tests, but fell down in others, receiving just 'OK' scores.
With some Kmart Anko air fryers you'll only get what you pay for, while with others you could end up with budget brilliance
However, a number have also hovered around the bottom of the pile, with a (now discontinued) 3.2L model scoring just 64%. A Kmart twin air fryer (which is also discontinued) was similarly disappointing, scoring only 67%.
One thing's for sure, though: Kmart's air fryers are consistently far cheaper than any other brand, so if you're looking for a cheap buy, Kmart models won't break the bank. However, with some models you'll only get what you pay for, while with others you could end up with budget brilliance.
The only way to tell is to check our detailed air fryer reviews to see how they compare.
Are Philips air fryers any good?
Philips air fryers have historically been more consistent than Kmart models. Two of the 13 Philips fryers that we've tested have been recommended by our experts, with the rest ranking as 'good'.
Many of them have been let down by their ease of use score, which is a measure of how easy they are to assemble, store, use and clean.
Philips air fryers have historically been more consistent than Kmart models
And, of course, they're far more expensive than comparably-sized Kmart models. In some cases they're worth what you pay for them, but you might also find cheaper air fryers from different brands that perform just as well as or even better than Philips products.
Kmart and Philips air fryers compared
Kmart Anko 5.3L Air Fryer vs Philips Air Fryer 5000 Series XL
The price gap between these fryers is fairly significant: $274 extra for the Philips.
For that kind of dollar difference, you'd expect more features and fancier technology, and the Philips does deliver these, but perhaps not to the extent that you'd expect for the money.
The Philips has a digital display with touchscreen controls, whereas the Kmart is more old-school with dial controls; one for temperature and one for time.
And of course there's the Philips Wi-Fi app called Home ID. Our experts say it's easy to set up and navigate, with easy-to-follow recipes, photos of ingredients and step-by-step instructions.
When you select a recipe, the air fryer will display the program, including the temperature and cooking time. You can even start the air fryer through the app.
Neither scored especially well for cooking frozen chips
Surprisingly, though, the Philips doesn't sound alerts to remind you to shake or turn your food, and it doesn't make any sounds when you select functions, which can be disconcerting. However, you can adjust the time and temperature settings on the Philips once the cooking process has begun.
You can also adjust the time and temperature while you're cooking with the Anko model. However, the dial controls may not be very accurate: they only have 20°C increments for temperature and 5-minute increments for the timer.
Our experts gave both models similar scores for ease of use, but neither scored especially well for cooking frozen chips. We have also tested these air fryers on how well they cook crumbed chicken, roast pork and marinated chicken wings, and scored them on how easy they are to use and clean.
The full details are listed in our air fryer reviews, available exclusively to CHOICE members. In these reviews you can also find details on how much each of these air fryers cost to run.
Kmart Anko 9L twin air fryer vs Philips 3000 series dual basket air fryer
Kmart's twin model costs only $119 which is cheap for a twin air fryer. You'll spend an extra $200 Philips dual basket model, but do the results justify the extra spend?
Kmart's performance has significantly improved since their last twin air fryer we tested. The previous version received an overall cooking performance score of only 65% (which we consider to be 'OK') in comparison to 81% for the most current version. While the Philip's outperforms the Kmart, you'll need to weigh up if it's worth the extra $200.
The Philips twin air fryer has the edge in terms of convenience: you can set it so the two baskets finish cooking at the same time, even if you're cooking different foods with different time and temperature requirements, and you can set both baskets to cook at the same time and temperature if you're just making one big batch.
The Kmart machine didn't have these features, so you needed to enter time and temperature manually for each basket, even if you were using the same time and temperature for both.
A twin air fryer that lacks the 'sync' and 'match' functions can make the simple task of air frying far more complicated and time-consuming than it ought to be.
Want to know more? We break down the Kmart twin air fryer's performance, share tips and help you answer the question "should you buy a twin air fryer?".
We're on your side
For more than 60 years, we've been making a difference for Australian consumers. In that time, we've never taken ads or sponsorship.
Instead we're funded by members who value expert reviews and independent product testing.
With no self-interest behind our advice, you don't just buy smarter, you get the answers that you need.
You know without hesitation what's safe for you and your family. And our recent sunscreens test showed just how important it is to keep business claims in check.
So you'll never be alone when something goes wrong or a business treats you unfairly.
Learn more about CHOICE membership today
Stock images: Getty, unless otherwise stated.
