Normal air fryers offer many benefits; they’re cheaper to run, quicker to use and more compact- which are all benefits explored in the Air Fryer VS Oven blog. 

However, one area they fall short in is meal variety. 

Chips might need 200°C for 18 minutes while chicken may need longer at a lower temperature. With one basket, that usually means cooking in shifts and watching half the meal go cold in the process. 

That is where the Ninja Foodi MAX Dual Zone AF400UK and Tower Vortx Vizion 9L T17177 shine. Both products give you two independently controlled baskets, both can synchronise different foods to finish together, and both are big enough for family-sized meals.

But the catch? The Ninja can cost well over twice as much.

So, is the Ninja MAX Dual air fryer genuinely worth paying extra for, or does the cheaper Tower dual air fryer do the same job?

The quick answer

• Best overall: Ninja Foodi MAX Dual Zone AF400UK – 9.5L capacity, 240°C Max Crisp and six useful cooking modes.
• Best value: Tower Vortx Vizion 9L – two 4.5L baskets, Sync and Match functions, viewing windows and a lower price tag.
• Best for frozen food: Ninja – Max Crisp gives it more heat to play with.
• Best for watching food cook: Tower – illuminated windows mean less drawer-opening.
• Our pick: Ninja if you’ll use it constantly; Tower if getting the most for your money matters more.

Check out the Ninja Foodi MAX dual zone here!

Check out the Tower T17177 Vortx Vizion 9L here!

The basic idea is almost identical

On paper, these two are pretty close. 

The Ninja gives you 9.5 litres in total, split between two 4.75L drawers. The Tower offers 9 litres, using two 4.5L drawers. That extra half-litre is useful, but it’s hardly a deal breaker.  

Both also solve the same timing problem. Ninja’s Sync function lets you programme different times, temperatures or even cooking functions and still have both zones finish together, while Match copies the settings from one drawer to the other. Tower offers essentially the same convenience through its Sync and Match Cook functions. 

For a family meal, this is the feature that matters: chicken in one side, chips in the other, press Sync, and put your iPhone timer away whilst it does the work for you. 

Where the Ninja starts to justify the extra money

The Ninja’s biggest advantages are its temperature and flexibility.

It has six cooking functions: Air Fry, Max Crisp, Roast, Bake, Reheat and Dehydrate. Max Crisp is the standout, reaching 240°C, compared with the Tower’s maximum of around 200°C. 

That extra heat gives the Ninja more headroom for smaller frozen foods where you want a properly crispy exterior for your fries, nuggets, breaded chicken or onion rings.

It doesn’t mean everything automatically tastes better, but it is a meaningful difference rather than another marketing button nobody will use.

Cleaning is also pretty easy. Ninja states that both the drawers and crisper plates are dishwasher-safe, which becomes way more important once the machine turns into a five-nights-a-week appliance rather than a weekend novelty. 

The Tower fights back with one very obvious feature

The Tower has something the Ninja doesn’t: windows.

Each 4.5L drawer has a viewing window and internal light, meaning you can check whether the chips are browning without pulling the basket out. It sounds like a minor gimmick until something goes from “nearly there” to “why is it charcoal?” in about three minutes. 

Tower also includes a shake reminder and preset programmes for common foods. Its grill plates are dishwasher-safe and the baskets are non-stick, so cleanup is still fairly straightforward.

There’s even a warranty advantage. Tower offers a one-year standard guarantee that can be extended to three years after registration, while Ninja offers two years on registration. 

Which takes up more worktop space?

Neither is small. Dual-basket air fryers are basically countertop ovens with handles.

The Ninja measures roughly 32.5cm high, 41.5cm wide and 27cm deep. The Tower is around 31.9cm high, 37.8cm wide and 36.4cm deep. 

So the Ninja is wider but noticeably shallower, while the Tower is narrower but reaches further back.

If worktop depth is tight, the Ninja may actually fit more comfortably despite having the slightly larger capacity.

The price changes the entire comparison

This is where the Tower becomes difficult to ignore.

Recent Amazon UK retailer tracking has shown the Ninja at roughly £149–£189 depending on the listing and offer, while the Tower T17177 was recently tracked at £99.99. Prices on Amazon change constantly, so those figures should be treated as a snapshot rather than a promise. 

Even allowing for discounts moving around, the Tower is clearly playing in a cheaper ball park. 

And that’s why this isn’t a simple landslide for Ninja. The Ninja is better specified, gets hotter, holds slightly more and has the stronger dishwasher-safe setup. But the Tower still gives you the main reason most people buy a dual basket air fryer in the UK: two independent drawers capable of cooking different foods and having them ready at the same time.

You’re not paying extra to unlock dual-zone cooking. You’re paying for the more complete overall package.

Who should actually buy which one?

Buy the Ninja Foodi MAX Dual if: you use an air fryer most days, cook plenty of frozen food, want the 240°C Max Crisp mode, prefer dishwasher-safe drawers and don’t mind paying more.

Buy the Tower Vortx 9L if: you want dual-basket cooking for much less money, like the idea of viewing windows, and are happy with a 200°C maximum temperature and slightly smaller capacity.

The verdict

The Ninja Foodi MAX Dual Zone AF400UK wins this comparison, but the Tower may be the smarter buy for plenty of households.

If price were removed from the equation, we’d choose the Ninja. The 9.5L capacity, hotter Max Crisp mode, six cooking functions and easy cleaning make it the stronger all-round machine.

The Tower Vortx Vizion 9L, though, gets surprisingly close to the experience that actually matters. It still cooks two foods independently, synchronises finishing times, gives you a large 9L capacity and even adds viewing windows the Ninja lacks.

So the simplest answer is this: the Ninja is the better air fryer; the Tower is the better bargain.

Check out the Ninja Foodi MAX dual zone here!

Check out the Tower T17177 Vortx Vizion 9L here!