Typhur Dome 2 Review

Design and Features

• Sleek, space-age design
• Wide, but flat basket
• A litany of functions present, with versatile app control

The Dome 2 well and truly looks like a spaceship. It’s quite a short and squat unit with a curved silver chassis offset by the black digital control panel and its minimalistic functions. Being slightly shorter than the average air fryer means it will also easily fit under kitchen counters without a hitch.

The 5.3-litre capacity is quite modest against the 6-litre Dreo ChefMaker, and is less than half the capacity of the 12-litre Ninja Combi.

Unlike most traditional air fryers, the Dome 2 is designed more for cooking flatter and wider items, such as pizzas, or fair quantities of fish or proteins, for instance, such as chicken breasts or pork chops. This is because the basket here is wider than comparable capacity air fryers, although not as tall.

Inside, you’ll find two elements, with a fan atop the top element for air circulation. The basket has a large handle on to make it easy to remove and put back into the cavity, while the crisper plate easily slides in, and has a small handle for easy removal that also folds down to provide a flat cooking area.

The front panel is home to only half the cooking functions, with even more accessible in the Typhur app to bring it up to 15 total functions, including everything from Air Fry and Roast to Griddle and a Pizza setting. This sure is a versatile display, and with a max temperature of up to 240°C, it means the Dome 2 is prepared for extra-crispy cooking.

By default, the temperature setting is in Fahrenheit, but by holding the two buttons used to change temperature, it can move to Celsius if you prefer. The digital readout for time and temperature, combined with the easy buttons for choosing a cooking function, makes the Dome 2 easy to use. That digital readout only has a countdown in minutes, with no seconds, which is a shame against the ChefMaker’s full digital display.

The Typhur app for the Dome 2 also allows for remote control, although you still need to physically press the physical Start button for it to begin cooking. Recipes in the app can also be sent to the machine to cook. Setup is easy, as long as you have a 2.4GHz Wi-Fi network, and you set the region of the air fryer to the UK in the app’s settings. Otherwise, it won’t work.

In addition to its many cooking modes, the Dome 2 also has a self-cleaning mode, which is only accessible in the app. It provides two options – an hour’s light clean, or a two-hour deep cleaning cycle. In essence, it works similarly to pyrolytic ovens, using high temperatures to break down and burn away any residue in the basket. Typhur recommends that you run the cleaning mode once per month.

Performance

• Fast, consistent cooking
• Taller items will need to be bashed or sliced into smaller pieces
• Roast function is a particular highlight

During my few weeks with the Dome 2, I ran it through a vast range of tests to see if this, quite frankly, expensive air fryer was up to snuff. For it to be worth your hard-earned cash, it’s got to cook immensely well.

Things got off to a good start with an entire side of salmon that was cooked in a batch, seasoned with salt, pepper, lemon and key lime juice. This was put on the basic Air Fry mode at 180°C for 16 minutes. Thanks to the dual elements, the salmon didn’t need turning, and was well-cooked in that time with a moist flavour and crispy skin.

Next, I tried some beef-dripping roast potatoes in the basket without the crisper plate. Admittedly, this was a more off-the-wall test, but it provided an ideal excuse for the app-specific Roast function. These were put on at 200°C for 30 minutes, and turned down to 180°C after 15 minutes with some carrots added. 

With it, the potatoes came out crispy and fluffy in the middle, as expected, with a good flavour and no need for par-boiling, and the carrots were well-roasted in 15 minutes, too.

To try the Pizza setting, I made some garlic knots at 180°C. The Pizza setting had a six-minute preheat, which wasn’t present on the other cooking modes, and after this, I put the knots in. After a further six minutes, they were well-browned, and I spread some garlic butter on them, leaving them to cook for another minute. They tasted excellent and were cooked especially well underneath.

For the Bake setting, I kept with the pizza theme and made up some pizza straws and twists with ready-rolled puff pastry, some cheese and tomato sauce. These were put on for 15 minutes at 180°C and were rather well-browned.

I also had a joint of pork around, which I tried on the Roast setting. This is where the pitfall of the shallower basket of the Dome 2 became a problem, as the meat had to be bashed and flattened down to fit underneath the element. It went on at 180°C for 40 minutes.

I added some hasselback potatoes and carrots around the meat after 30 minutes, and left it to cook for a further 20 minutes. After this time, the meat was moist and well-roasted, with the carrots and potatoes as they should be, without the need for par-boiling.

The beef rump joint I had was less successful, though. This initially wasn’t a problem to fit into the basket, and it was put on at 160°C with Typhur’s Smart Connect probe in the middle to gauge the temperature, and so the meat could cook to a specific temperature, as it integrates with the Dome 2 and the Typhur app well.. After a few minutes, though, the meat expanded, causing it to hit the top element. 

The meat was taken out, and instead cut into rump steak slices. In this form, the meat cooked in 18 minutes at the same 160°C temperature, with pieces at an internal temperature of 65-70°C after resting. Some pieces were more medium, while others pushed into the medium-to-well category. Still, the meat was tender and tasted great.

For my final few tests, I turned back to more typical air frying tests, such as cooking a fair portion of breaded chicken for use over salads. This was cooked at 200°C in just 10 minutes on the Air Fry mode, and came out golden and crispy. 

So too did some haddock kievs, chicken and a handful of spare potato wedges I had in just 14 minutes at 200°C on the Air Fry mode.

In addition, I also sliced some potatoes, sprayed them with oil, and cooked them at 210°C for 18 minutes to use them as chips, and they came out well-browned and crispy. This was paired with a Monte Cristo sandwich, which took just eight minutes at 200°C, and required no turning halfway through.

For a final test, I also toasted some brown bread on the Dome 2’s Toast setting at 195°C for seven minutes. While it took longer than a conventional toaster for only two slices, it still did a good job.

Should you buy it?