Cosori CP158-AF Air Fryer: My 2nd Air Fryer Review ★★★★☆

While this review relates to what is my second air fryer I have owned, its by far the best by a country mile due to how wide and shallow the basket is.

While the Cosori Premium CP158 does have its problems, and at least among them design flaw in the basket, I think this air fryer model should be the standard of an air fryer you look for going forward. Cosori have an easy to use, reliable air fryer here; all while just about big enough to outdo most others.

I feel I can review this Cosori Premium air fryer now that I've used it nearly every day for the last 3-4 years.

What I found out must about this model is that air fryers in the larger scale, can still be a little troublesome when you need to cook multiple food items at any one time. With experience, I am confident you will find a solution to every problem with this air fryer.

One big plus about this model though is how easy it is to use the digital touchscreen panel on the front of the appliance.

Simply tap in your temperature and time using the up/down buttons, then press the start button to begin cooking.

No need to get to know the function buttons at all for the time being, as all your air frying needs can be achieved by simply punching in the temp and time.

What I like most about this air fryer is not only is it a good size air fryer that should just about big enough to cook a small chicken in; you can air fry food items like fries, along with chicken nuggets or fish fingers together... that is if you're patient enough to try.

Basket where all food items are put into, quickly and easily are pushed in and out of the appliance, with a quick switch of a clear safety tab that unlocks the basket so you can detach it from the outer, larger container - to shake or flip food over - and of course you will need to clean the basket soon after it gets mucky.

Bad news is, the basket does have a design flaw which makes it a little hard to clean, due to long grilles that are awkward to clean in between tight overlapping gaps.

I don't dislike a lot about this air fryer but I will say the automatic shut off feature can be a pain. When you're cooking something when this safety function kicks in - the timer/temp is completely wiped away.

I can reveal, I did buy a new basket for this air fryer which was needed because I didn't really look after the old. And though I have looked after the second basket as best as I can; its difficult to maintain to a high standard that won't see it deteriorate again as easily and quickly as it did the last time.

Ease of use

At the time of writing, I've used the Cosori Premium CRP158 now for probably a little over 2 years, in which time I've used this air fryer every day since.

What I found to be the most useful feature of this particular air fryer, is how easy it is to operate. Bear in mind, I find all air fryers thus far easy to use, only this is a larger than normal model - together with the first time using a Cosori - and its a real joy to use.

In addition, the air fryer basket handles very well as its light to hold which helps when additional weight is added in food items.

Admittedly, I don't use a lot of features other than the on/off button; the temperature and timer button of course - which have all functioned as they should - with no buttons refusing to function or dial in what I need it to do. Unfortunately, this model you could once switch from °C to °F, and vice-versa, yet this function doesn't work at all now.

Together with the digital operation, its a great upgrade to its manual equivalent and thus, far better than any other air fryer I've owned and operated up until now.

Ease of use involves the easy opening and closing of the basket and container, along with an easy to use clear tab to unlock the basket to flip food items.

Good size air fryer

What feature I can't boost about enough is how big this air fryer is, which is real plus when it comes to cooking more than one food item at a time.

It still has capacity issues like all air fryers, in which you can't cook enough items at any one time; but at least this air fryer does get close to it with a little imagination needed to cook several items for one meal.

Cosori CP158 is actually 5.5 litres (which equates to a 5.8 quart air fryer) and that is important to know with how big the air fryer basket is. Not the size of the air fryer, just the size of the internal basket capacity only.

What that translates to in real life, is an air fryer basket that is 22cm wide with a depth of 23cm. Although with screws in the way, and the curvature of the basket, its more like 22cm wide, with a 22cm depth.

With that, you'll get a 9cm deep air fryer basket which you may feel isn't deep enough, but believe me it really is.

In fact, I was relieved to find it was a fairly shallow air fryer basket compared to my previous Ninja MAX AF160UK air fryer; which had such a deep basket, is was nearly impossible to pull food out of the container. Shallow basket will always be a genuinely great feature, and something you should look for in an air fryer when buying for the first time, or replacing a tired air fryer in the future.

Basket design problematic

My Cosori Premium looks very appealing aesthetically, and I am really pleased how good it looks on my kitchen countertop, with no issues in size or colour.

Unfortunately though, the interior does have a few issues that have caused mostly annoyance in the time I've operated this air fryer.

Now this is an older air fryer (about 3-4 years old), and the basket - which has been replaced once during its use - is now getting harder to clean, with grease often left on it due to a deteriorating teflon coating.

How you would clean an air fryer early on would be to quickly wipe it over in luke-warm water, with a soft cloth or sponge which is enough to remove all grease and grime.

Not so anymore though as the special non-stick coating is almost completely gone, and no longer at its best.

Still related to cleaning and maintaining the air fryer (but mostly the basket), is that the actual basket design makes it hard to clean.

With long grilles surrounding the basket, they're designed in such a way its hard to clean in between each one due to accessibility issues, and thus its hard to clean in between overlapping 38 grilles.

Function buttons offer little

I suppose I don't really bake enough to judge the bake setting, nor do I actually roast when I feel the standard air frying setting does all of the above.

What I don't feel I have any use for with any air fryer, is the pre-set function buttons which as I understand it, will set the temperature to bake/roast etc. - and will adjust the speed off the air flow as needed. None of which is possible on the default air fryer setting.

In perhaps the 5 or so years I have owned and operated an air fryer, I've need felt the need to touch a single function button.

I don't really think this is a negative because I know it may be worth trying the bake setting when I bake a cake. But unfortunately I know this pre-set won't match up to what the recipe cookbook instructs me to do when baking a cake recipe.

What you will end up doing, like I always have, is set the time and temperature manually, then press start, sporadically shaking and flipping the food until its fully cooked.

I have tried the PREHEAT button which saves a few seconds when punching in 5 minutes manually; while the keep warm function could be worth investigating in due course, if the air fryer hasn't packed in by then.

What I dislike

With up to 3 years of use under my belt, the Cosori CP158 has one issue that I only recently found out the cause.

Once in a while, I will be air frying away and then naturally pull out the basket while cooking, to flip food as you should as often as you can. Well, when I push the basket back in to continue cooking, the air fryer shuts off.

My temperature and timer will completely be wiped off, leaving me with half cooked food, with an air fryer that won't turn back on.

In due course, I found this to actually be a safety feature; the air fryer has been turned on for a certain amount of time, it risks over heating.

OK great, but what am I suppose to do when I don't remember how much time was left on my cooking time?

Its a great safety feature I will add, but really it should give you a flashing light instead, to tell you to turn off in a reasonable time.

I will also add, a function of this air fryer is that you can change it from a stand °C setting to a preferred American °F - just by pressing down the 'start' button for a few seconds. But of course, this function doesn't work on this 2-3 year old model, and where Cosori support ignored my email for advice concerning this issue.

Summary

What negatives I can say about this air fryer, even though I still really do love this model very much, is mostly due to its capacity and the actual dimensions of the basket.

This Cosori Premium CP158 is a great large range air fryer which is just about big enough to cook a small chicken in; yet oddly enough its hard to cook more than two food items at a time, such as fries with an additional side.

Regardless, with a little experience I am sure you'll figure it out just like I have.

Ease of use on this air fryer is just what you need in an air fryer for beginners, and all the way up to advance.

Quickly get cooking by setting the temperature and timer, then proceed to hit the 'start' button to begin.

Proceed to open and close the air fryer basket by simply pulling it out and pushing it back in - then the timer will continue to countdown as it should.

Did I mention its good size air fryer? Well, I'll say it again with the air fryer providing a 22cm width, with a 23cm depth; although with a couple of screws popping out near to the handle, the depth is nearer to 22cm.

Basket design is flawed like every single air fryer basket on the market today - plus additional appliances and cookware using a teflon-like non-stick coating; in that, it will become more sticky as its used. Add 38 floor-to-top overlapping grilles which are impossible to clean in between them all.

With the highly noticeable function buttons taking up a lot of area, other than the 'start' button, along with the temp, time, and up/down buttons - I don't really use the pre-set function buttons at this time.

Conclusion: this is a solid, well built air fryer that utilises a wide, shallow air fryer which is what I now prefer in all air fryers I will buy going forward.

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