Nice sized fryer for light home use, April 26, 2010

I've had this fryer for a couple of months and generally like it for home use. The safety plug is a little painful to use, but I guess with a bunch of hot fat around its probably worth the hassle.The good- it heats up quickly especially with the cover on. Usually ready in about 5 minutes or so- It is easy to clean up, you remove the heating element and then remove the enamel coating insert and pour out the oil. Most of the pieces are dishwasher safe so the clean up is straight forward.- Heat recovers fairly quickly in between batches.- I have made several batches of really good french fries, sweet potato fries, and fried squid in this unit using olive oil as the baseNot so good- when filled to the proper mark it will overflow if you are not careful how you add the food and carefully shake/move the basket until the overflow settles down. Walls should probably be an inch higher- there is a fair amount of odor, you can...

I originally bought the Cuisinart CDF-100 fryer because this unit was always out of stock. This was the one I wanted. The Cusinart fried good, but clean up was a lot more time consuming. You had to pour water in the unit while its on your countertop. With this, the oil box is seperate from the base. You can throw it in the dishwasher or wash under the sink.This basket is nice and big, the side walls of the oil box are high and probably double the size of the Cusinart, less oil splattering everywhere. The cusinart has a charcoal filter for smell. I fry with peanut oil, the oil has no smell compared with cheaper veggie or canola oil. This unit has no charcoal filter, you don't need it. Lots of condensation would occur if there was a filter. Everytime I opened the lid to the Cuisinart, I had to wipe inside of the lid, if not, the water would drip in the oil and you get the popping sounds from the oil.So why do I have this after I have the Cusinart? The basket on...

Three nice things about this fryer: 1) temperature control goes to 375 (better browning) 2)Fry basket is well made and feels solid 3) frying well is easy to remove to empty and clean. Over-all, a better fryer than the small Cusinart it replaced (and for less money).