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Tower provide a booklet of instructions and recipes to induct you into various means of using the Tower. Essentially, the quantity of oil you add will dictate the styling of flavour you receive. More oil, more crunch. But don't overdo it. The air circulation will cook in a drier way if not given some oil to work with.
The T17024 is one of the numerous air fryers Tower make, it is quite large in comparison to many of their other closed case models. With 4.3 litres of cooking volume. But it pales in comparison to their 12 litre models, which can extend up to 17 litres.
Being covered in shiny black plastic gives the T17024 the look of a kitchen appliance, not a catering bit of kit. Standing 35cm tall it can disguise itself amongst your toasters, your coffee makers and your kettles quite easily.
What's great about Tower is that they've got a good, and by good I mean rapid, air circulation system know to them as VORTX. Yes, it makes a vortex around your chicken drumsticks. No we don't think the name is necessary either.
What pushes the T17024 model further than its little brothers and sisters is its timer. You get a beefy 60 minutes to run down. This is only for the largest of joints of meat, and it still doesn't give you enough time to properly dehydrate some root vegetables into crisps.
There is also no shake timer, which features on the higher end air fryers, the presets are non-existent. All you have is your wits and a timer. Like a game show with oil. The consequence of heating oil and blowing it around quickly is that it can let off a bit of a smell. This isn't anything above and beyond cooking smells in general, nowhere near as stench-inducing as a deep fat fryer, but I still prefer to air fry with an extraction fan running, as the filters aren't 100% filtering the air as it comes out.
What is pleasant in cleanliness terms is the basket. It is plastic on the outside, coated with Teflon or some non-brand, non-stick on the inside and dishwasher safe. The circular shape prevents crusts from forming if you happen to overdo the meat.
The power fitted, 1500W is great for nailing smaller portions in the Tower. It can handle a full basket of chips too, but the best recipes involve double-frying. Something irate reviewers sometimes struggle to understand.
The Tower T17024 comes with a one year warranty, this can be increased to two years if you happen to register your product within 28 days of purchase. On the Tower website are a host of digital manuals replacements, instructional guides and recipes to get your cooking juices flowing.
The digital interface seems rather superfluous as it doesn't connect to any greater cooking modes or presets. You only set the time and the temperature. Speaking of heat, the range runs from 80°C to 200°C. Nothing is overtly mentioned about the dehydration or defrosting capacity, though this is possible in an air fryer.
I don't think in terms of build quality or features it stands up to the Phillips or Salter models of air fryer. These include a range of preset options for cooking foods and reminders to shake or baste your food with oil. But then cooking can't all be mediated by our robot friends, can it?
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The Tower T17023 is big enough to feed a family of young children and adults. Although it would fall short of feeding hungry teenagers by some distance. The digital side of the air fryer is confined to the timer, don't get fooled thinking you've got a robotic assistant. You are in charge of remembering to shake those fries and remove the basket for cleaning.
While the timer is longer, Tower could easily increase it to allow for easier baking and dehydrating processes. For the price and for the capacity, this is a decent air fryer, but not one to make it into our pick of the 2018-19 litter. The health benefits of buying any air fryer are well known, nothing specifically healthy comes from the Tower. But if you're inclined towards making a purchase, and have a budget to meet, the Tower T17023 is a wise choice.