Best Countertop Microwave Air Fryer Combos of 2026

Few combos at this end of the price range do five jobs without one of them feeling like an afterthought. The Black+Decker runs microwave, air fry, combi (grill plus convection), bake, and roast, with 11 air-fry presets aimed at the frozen food people actually cook in these things — fries, nuggets, wings, fish. The air-fry results hold up. The microwave, at 900 watts, is the least powerful here, and a cold plate of leftovers takes longer because of it.

What makes it our pick for small kitchens is the box itself: 19.5 inches wide, 14.5 inches deep, and 11.4 inches tall, close to three inches shallower than the Ninja and shorter than anything else on this list. We think that's the whole argument. It's the difference between a combo that fits on a rental kitchen counter and one that ends up on a cart in the living room.

Daily use is about as simple as this category gets. The touch panel is the least intimidating of the five, with plain labels, a start button that adds 30 seconds a press, and a child lock you engage by holding stop. Give the air-fry mode a turn halfway through; heat lands unevenly enough that the back of the cavity browns first.

Two machines here sit at the same price and they're built for different cooks. The Ninja is the crisper; the OptiChef Pro Max is the bigger, smarter oven. Its 1.3-cubic-foot cavity is the largest in this group, the 13.58-inch turntable swallows a 13-inch pizza or a whole chicken, and the ceramic enamel interior wipes down more easily than the stainless cavities on the cheaper picks.

Where it earns its keep for us is the microwave half. The inverter delivers 1100 watts — the most here — and holds a low power level continuously instead of switching on and off, so defrosting ground beef doesn't cook the edges while the middle stays hard. Add a humidity sensor that takes over most of the guesswork on reheating, and a household that microwaves far more than it air fries gets more out of this machine than out of anything else on the list.

The 2.4-inch color screen is either the reason to buy it or the reason to look elsewhere. Twenty-five programs are genuinely easier to find on a screen than on a membrane keypad, and the air-fry side uses a top fan and element in the same layout as an oven-style fryer, so wings and vegetables crisp at the edges. It runs quietly too, which counts for a lot in an open kitchen.

Our first week with this one, we ran air fry, then broil, then a plain reheat without moving a second appliance onto the counter, which is the whole promise of the category in one evening. The eight functions cover microwave, air fry, convection bake, broil, combi, low temp, odor removal, and defrost, and the extras sit off to the side of the panel rather than in the way of dinner.

Two details we came to appreciate. The 12.4-inch position-memory turntable returns a wide dish to the orientation it went in, so a casserole goes from fridge to microwave to table without re-aiming. And the stainless interior takes a scrub without dulling the way painted cavities do.

Air frying is where it gives ground. The top element does honest work on wings and vegetables, but a full basket takes longer here than in a dedicated fryer — preheat it, keep the layer shallow, and give it a few extra minutes before you check. Everything else is quick: the microwave side runs at a straightforward 1000 watts, and combi mode browns a casserole that would otherwise go soggy.

The air fryer here runs at preset temperatures rather than a set range, and that one detail explains most of what this machine does and doesn't do well. Choose the closest preset, turn the food once, and frozen fries and wings come out decent — a lighter crust than a basket fryer gives you, and far better than a plain microwave. At 1.2 cubic feet and 1000 watts, you get more cavity for the money than anywhere else on this list.

What surprised us is the other half. It ships with a bake plate and an air-fry kit, and it works as a small second oven for a tray of cookies or a casserole when the main oven is occupied — the function the other combos treat as a bonus is the one this machine does best. If you're renting with a tired oven, that's worth more than a slightly crisper basket of fries.

The case against it is refinement rather than function. It feels like the budget machine it is: the panel is busier than it needs to be, and it isn't as quick as the two premium picks. Buy it for baking and reheating with air frying on the side, not the other way around.