Hamilton Beach 4.5 Liter Professional Style Electric Deep Fryer

Why it's worth it

Hamilton Beach's 35034 holds 4.5 liters of oil and comes with three baskets, an 1800-watt immersed element and a vented lid with a view window. It's the choice when volume matters more than build materials.

Nineteen cups of oil is a lot of frying room. It'll cook up to twelve cups of food, which is enough for a party rather than a dinner. Big batches are also more forgiving: a large volume of oil loses less temperature when cold food goes in, so your third batch comes out like your first. If you're the one who fries for the whole family gathering, capacity is the spec that matters.

Three baskets let you match the batch to the food. There's one twelve-cup basket for a full load, plus two six-cup baskets you can run side by side. Fries in one, onion rings in the other, done at the same time. All three are chrome plated and hook over the pot to drain, so you're not searching for somewhere to park a dripping basket.

From our review of 8 home deep fryers, by David Sinclair, Managing Editor

What we like

• +Nineteen cups of oil is a lot of frying room
• +Three baskets let you match the batch to the food
• +The lid actually does something
• +Most of it goes in the dishwasher

What to know

• –The housing is largely plastic, and it shows
• –It's an analog dial with no timer
• –The footprint is large and there's no getting around it