Customer Reviews

T-Fal 62870 Magiclean Deep Fryer

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(10)

 

 

Adjustable temps, NO odors the next day, and changeable carbon filter elements, dish-washable everything that gets oily, removable oil container so you can store the oil without draining (I just put saran wrap over and rubberband around top, pop in fridge when cool). Fast recovery heater gives tight temp control, as well as quick heat-up. Trick basket handle allows lowering and raising of food into oil, *while* top is sealed, so once you get your cooking times perfected, cooker never needs opening except for loading/unloading. Safety and no oil splatter/mess/odor; nice. I studied all the reviews & features before buying this one; I think it's the best T-FAL has to offer. Cook Thai, Viet, and Chinese 'wok' deep-fry without the odors and mess. I'm sold.

I bought the Magiclean deep fryer as a house warming gift.After hearing how satisfied my friend was with it,I got one for myself. Im someone who hates to fry.But its so simple with the T-fal deep fryer. And also very simple to clean I just pop it in the dishwasher.I like the fact that the lid is closed while you drop the food into the oil.Its made frying foods so much easier for me.I highly recommend the T-fal Magiclean deep fryer to anyone in the market for a very reliable and easy to use deep fryer.

We shopped around for deep fryers & ended up deciding to get one that had all dishwashable parts (basket, inner container, lid). Well, this one ended up being in my boyfriend's gold box & it was one of the models we were considering, so he bought it. We are so happy with it. It makes deep frying so easy! And clean-up is a breeze!

Good points:
1) Everything we'd cooked comes out crisp & not greasy. No more soggy oven baked fries for us. But, we have only used it on the highest temperature setting... the others seem too low for us. We measured the temperature and it does heat up to the right temp.

2) No odors, but some steam does come through the lid. We do run the range top exhaust fan whenever we cook & the fryer is near the range so that might help.

3) We really like the removeable inner container. You can either store the oil in the fryer at room temp or put the inner container into the refrigerator. Cleaning it is really easy too since you can put everything in the dishwasher. In most other models we saw, the inner container was not removeable. We like being able to dishwash it. The removeable inner container also makes filtering the oil easy. We just put a paper towel over a seive and filter the cooled oil through that.

Minor complaints:
1) The handle seems kind of delicate though, so I wouldn't leave it in the open position because it could get broken off if bumped.

2) And the electrical cord is kind of short. Our kitchen cabinets are kind of low, so we have only one spot on the counter where it can go & the cord is barely long enough to place it there. A cord a few inches longer would give us more options.

3) The basket does seem kind of shallow/small. It'd probably be hard to cook large or tall items. But, we don't really eat large pieces of fried food, so this hasn't been an issue. We just like having some fried food along with the rest of our meal. Also, there's just 2 of us (though he eats as much as 3 normal sized people), but it seems to make more than enough. And it's easy enough to use that you could fry a few more batches if needed.

All in all, we think this was a great purchase. Deep frying used to be a big project with a messy clean-up when you're done, but now it's so simple! This is one of the best things we've bought!

I purchased my fryer about 2 months ago and could never get nice crisp fries no matter how long I cooked them or how thin I sliced them. I measured the temperature with a deep fryer thermometer and found that it would allow the oil to cool to 350 degrees, when set to 374, before turning back on. I worked with T-Fal's customer support back and forth for a week and then they suggested I exchange the unit for a new one, which I did.

Unfortunately, the replacement unit was worse than the first. When set to 374 degrees (highest setting) it would only heat to 365 and then, even with nothing in the oil, the temp would slowly drop to 350 before it would kick in again. This time tech support had me ship the week-old unit to them. two weeks later their technical staff reports that the 20-degree temperature swings and the 9 degrees short of 374 are both within "design tolerances" and therefore nothing is wrong with my unit and they are shipping it back to be.

Needless to say, as soon as I get it back from T-Fal I will be returning it to the store where I bought it for a full refund.

Other than temperature swings I think the unit is VERY nicely designed with thoughful attention to many details and it is a breeze to clean. They just need to put in a better thermostat.

After comparing the pros and cons of a variety of deep fryer models. I decided to purchase the T-Fal Magiclean Deep Fryer. And I was not disappointed.

Dinner on the day I purchased my T-Fal included a bounty of fried foods. From french fries, to chicken to onion rings, everything the T-Fal produced was delicious. Set up and clean up were a breeze too!

After removing the warranty and instructions from the basket in the T-FAL and plugging in the machine, the T-FAL was ready to go without any other assembly. You begin by adding oil to the bowl in the unit. A line at the back of the bowl tells you how far to fill. (The line was a bit hard to see.) After filling the unit with oil, you close the lid and preheat the unit for about 15 minutes. A dial on the front of the unit allows you to select the temperature you want. A light tells you when the temperature you have selected has been reached.

Then you load the mesh basket with the food you want to fry. The basket holds ample quantities. 2.2 pounds of fries. 4 or 5 pieces of boneless chicken. Serving sizes to feed a family of four, average portions.

The basket gets loaded into the cooker. You close the lid and voila, you are frying! T-Fal has two makes of the Magiclean the 62870 and the 62890. The 62890 features a tiny timer on the front. You can set this for the amount of time you want to fry and it will ring when the time has elapsed.

When the time has elapsed you release the handle and press the lid and you have hot, yummy fried food! The booklet that comes with the unit gives suggested cooking times for different foods.

When you are finished frying, allow the oil to cool. You can then remove the non-stick bowl from the base of the unit and pour the oil into a jar. Cleaning is easy as the bowl, basket and lid are dishwasher safe!

Here is a summary of features of the unit:
* Electronic Timer (6289 model only)
* Family size - 2.2 lbs. food capacity
* Unique Magiclean system: Removable lid, frying basket and
non-stick coated pot for easier cleaning - all are
dishwasher safe
* Hermetically sealed locking lid - prevents dangerous spills
and odors
* External integrated basket handle - safely raises or lowers
basket with lid closed
* On/Off ready light - turns off when oil reaches correct
frying temperature
* Advanced filtration system: replaceable cartridge with
active charcoal granules for up to 30 uses
* Adjustable thermostat - select the perfect cooking
temperature for all your cooking needs
* Automatic lid-opening button - opens lid without burning
your hands
* Large viewing window for monitoring food while frying
* Safe-to-touch exterior for total safety

The plug is the only drawback I noted on the T-fal. Instead of fitting snugly into the back of the fryer, it sets out from the unit. The fryer cannot be put right against a wall, as it juts out due to the plug.

The unit comes in one color white. The design is compact running about 12" x 9" x 14" high. A charcoal filter helps eliminate odor and the manufacturers suggest it be replaced after 30 uses. The company also sells paper filters to drain the oil so you can reuse it. I find it less expensive and easier to use cheesecloth. I drain the oil into mason jars.

If you want to enjoy fried food at home this easy to use unit will make frying food a pleasure with delicious results!

I have the 62890, it is exactly the same as the 62870 except it has a timer and costs about $... more. The timer is like a LCD watch, with beeper, and it worked before I ever plugged it in. There doesn't seem to be a way to change the battery if it dies.
I had a fry daddy before, and while this holds less, there is less oder and less mess when cooking. The oder filters seem to work for about 35 fryings before they turn red for me (The American filters have about 10 more uses) but I have been unable to find the paper filters for the oil anywhere. They expect you to filter the oil after each use. I use the hot temperature for most things, but the lower temperature was perfect for frying scallops & the medium for shrimp.
Opening the lid, it tends to spring violently open, and I have been splattered with hot oil when I forget to catch it. This is necessary to turn the food mid way. If you fry with the lid open to make this easy, you disable the oder filter and hermetically sealed lid.
Even with the non-renewable timer, smaller size, difficulty turning food & violent lid, I still prefer this to my Fry Daddy which as now been retired. Until I find the filters, I still use the old trick to remove flavor from oil, and that is to fry 2 slices of bread or a quartered potato until medium brown, then discard.

If you are looking for a deep fryer that is 1) odor free 2) easy to clean 3)safe. This is it! We did a lot of research before we narrowed down to two models, Delonghi D690 (like 895 but w/o rotor) and this T-fal magiclean. What eventually made us bring home a T-fal is its removable oil container. With Delonghi, the part that contains oil can't be removed for wash. That put us off. I've been using T-Fal Magiclean for 10+ times since I bought it last month and I love every part of it! oh..and the price is great!

Have gone through two of these. The thermostat went bad on the first one so I returned it to the place of purchase and got it replaced . Less than a year later the same thing happened to the replacement. I loved everything about it when it worked, but I think Ill try a different brand this time.

Having read all the reviews for each of the deep fryers on here, I decided to give the T-fal a try, even though a few of the reviews were negative. My first use after receiving it was "interesting", There were a few things that concerned me, such as a little smoke, and a few "pops", which could have been caused by soap that I may not have completely rinsed off when I washed the oil pan before using. Also, after the specified cooking time for french fries, they were nowhere near done, so I figured I had one of the bad units I read about in the reviews, until I realized that I accidentally snapped off the magnetic plug (safety feature) on the back when I moved the fryer on the counter.

Now, for the good part of the review. Starting with the second use, everything worked perfectly. I used a french fry recipe I saw on a TV show where you cut/slice the potatos (3/8" cut), soak in ice-water to release starch and keep from browning, dry them, cook them at 325 for 3 minutes, drain them, bring oil up to 375, then cook for another 4 minutes...and they turned out perfect! (I'd put them up against McD's any day). After that, I figured out the timing to make french fries and chicken nuggets at the same time, all in a shorter amount of time than the suggested cooking times for the T-fal. That's about 15 nuggets and a "large order" of fries all done at once! The food was crisp, done perfectly, and was not greasy at all.

My comments on concerns I read in the reviews:

Temperature swings: I don't have a deep-fry thermometor, but it does cook crisp fries and chicken nuggets in less time than the T-fal instructions recommend.
Oil odor: Slight - didn't last, and it wasn't bad.
Can't find filters: www.t-fal.com has replacement filters, although the model number doesn't match...it looks like the same one.
Broke after 'X' number of uses: I've only used it 10 times so far, no problem. I'll keep my fingers crossed.

Bottom line: Great food - fast. I'm glad I bought it.

I purchased this fryer about 2 months ago and it worked just fine.
After the 5th. use the thermostat failed in the "on" cycle and the oil started to boil. It must have been well past it's flash point.
This thing is a fire trap! Other users have reported the same thing and I should have listened to them.