DeLonghi D34528DZ Dual Zone Deep Fryer

This is the nicest deep fryer I have ever had! I love the fact that it has a spicket on it for draining and straining the oil and I love that I can take the whole thing apart and put it in the dishwasher! (except for the electrical part) It takes awhile to heat up the oil because it holds a lot of oil and I am still trying to figure the controls out, but I am getting it. They are really not that hard, it's just that my brain is mush sometimes and I am not used to such a precision fryer. One of the things I love best about it, is that it maintains the heat between batches of whatever I am frying. It's as nice as a professional fryer...even better!

I purchased this in December 2014. So far it has performed perfectly. We use ours 2-3 times a month. Heating time from room temperature to the max 374F is under 5 minutes. Easily handles 5-6 pieces of chicken at a time. It is easy to use and I especially love how easy it is to clean. Reading the reviews before I ordered it, I was worried about the problems people reported with the magnetic power cord connection disconnecting while cooking, but it's not an issue at all. After using the fryer it occurred to me...why would you want to move an appliance full of hot oil in the first place. That being said the cord is only 36 inches long and that could pose a problem for some.

I wish I had known about this before I bought and used this fryer. One of the most basic and yet important things about deep frying is to maintain a constant temperature through the deep fry cooking process. If you want to fry at 350, the only way to get a good result is for the oil to stay as close to 350 as possible from start to finish. This is something that DeLonghi evidently doesn't seem to either know or care about. What happens with this unit is that once it gets to the set temperature, the heating element is shut off until AFTER the set cook time elapses. When you put the food in at 350, the oil temp drops by about 50 degrees as one would expect. What one doesn't expect is that the temp just keeps dropping from there. An 8 minute fry results in oil that ends up at about 185 degrees. From the user manual: "At the end of the countdown the deep fryer emits three beeps. Lights (E) and (F) go off. The temperature returns to the value set previously." Based on the manual, this is done on purpose. Because of this, food comes out oily and soggy. I have ideas for a couple of workarounds but I haven't tried them yet. First, maybe you can set the cook time for 10 seconds so, in theory, at the end of the cook time it should start heating the oil again. This renders the timer absolutely worthless. You could also just drop the food in and then manually set the temp to 350 again. It takes the fryer quite a bit of time to get back to temp while frying so chances are that it will not get back to temp before the food is done but at least it will be hotter than 180 degrees. If I knew then what I know now, I would have looked for a fryer with better insulation to keep the heat in the oil and with more automatic temperature control and FOR SURE I would not want a fryer that turns off the heating element while in use. This design decision is unfathomable for a deep fryer. Oh, and one of the worst things about this is that while in use, the temperature display shows the temperature you set not the temperature of the oil. If you hit mode again and press the +/- buttons, THEN it will show you the current temp of the oil. How shocking is it to find that you are frying at 180 degrees when you wanted to fry at 350 and you thought you were frying at 350. Just absolutely horrible!!!!!!!!!! Find a better product from a company that actually understands the product they are making. DeLonghi doesn't, or they wouldn't have made this abomination to deep frying. There is no way to relay how disappointing this deep fryer is.Edit: I've been told a few times by other people that their fryer maintains the temperature. However, once I tell them about how to find the ACTUAL temperature during the cook cycle, they are blown away that they are not cooking at the temperature they thought they were! Shame on DeLonghi for making such a terrible deep fryer. That said, if I immediately set the temp after dropping my food in, the element will turn on. At least there is a work around for the horrendous design flaw.

I really like the dual zone deep fryer by DeLonghi because it has a large capacity for frying and it also has a drain spout for easy cleaning. My only concern is that the magnetic cord does not stay attached very well. Otherwise, this is the best deep fryer I have used

This is a great product! It's as if I was allowed to design a deep fryer with all the features anyone could want.It lets you know when the oil has reached your desired temperature, it tells you know when your oil needs changing and best of all, draining the oil is a snap with the drain valve provided. I also like the fact that cleaning the fryer is easy because the unit disassembles into individual parts.The quality of the manufacture and the materials used is evident. I'd give it 6 stars if I could!

Our family loves this fryer!!! , One can fry enough for a family of 7, and the chicken, fish or potatoes, etc all fry evenly in the large , deep fry basket. the only drawbacks are that the timer is not loud enough to hear ( we dont use it any way because we watch the food to discern end time )and the cord comes off rather easily .This however is a good safety feature for homes with little ones- We dont move it when it is working .... and it is WORK HORSE !!! . I love the fact that you can drain the oil from the bottom and for cleaning , the oil pan is easy to remove, as is the filter, I even wash the sponge filter for longer life. Temp is easy to read and gets hot enough and fast enough !!! I like Delonghi products, We are users of 2 Delonghi Magnifica Expresso machines... and love them , too !!!

Great deep fryer that can be taken apart to clean that alone makes it worthwhile owning. I just made Krispy Cream doughnuts that turned out so good they are all gone and I will have to make more.

Loved being able to clean basket and insert easily. Also easy to remove oil via the spigot. Well made product. Problem keeping plug from falling out.

After three months of purchase and occasional use, there is a leakage at the connector. It caused a lots of mess

I had seen no mention in the advertising of the strange temperature settings. As I was replacing an earlier unit (Model D24527 DZ) I was surprised that the temperature settings were not the same but converted from degrees C and shown as degrees F e.g. 284 F which is 140 C, 347 F which is 174 C, 356 F which is 180 C. So when setting the target temperature you have to select a value that is close to the temperature given in the recipe. Also, the steps in the values when selecting a temperature are 9 F which is 5 C. The earlier unit steps were 5 F which is 3 C. I have not been able to find any reference to how you can change the readout to at least read in degrees C. I can live with the inconvenience but I cannot say that I was particularly happy with the difference in this aspect of the two models.

Just got it today, looks to be a good deep fryer, I like all the stainless steel in it, safety features and front drain