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Kitchens have come a long way. A decade ago, if you had told me that I'd be eating French fries made with zero oil, I'd have laughed in your face. “Fries without oil? What next, butter chicken without butter?” I would’ve mocked you. But I realised just how far we'd come when I pulled the first batch of French fries out of the Nester Home Cook, popped one into my mouth and wondered if I'd missed something. They tasted remarkably like regular French fries, except without the dinosaur juice they usually soak in. That, in itself, was a rather promising start to my three weeks with the appliance. The Nester Home Cook is a premium glass air fryer that tries to do things a little differently. Instead of the conventional opaque cooking basket, it uses a transparent glass bowl, adds a moisture-retention feature called SteamLock™, and wraps everything in a design that wouldn't look out of place in a thoughtfully designed kitchen. It's clearly aimed at people who want more from an appliance than simply a way to cook frozen snacks with less oil. But a good-looking appliance still needs to earn its place in the kitchen. Over three weeks, I put it through everything from French fries and jalapeno poppers to a slightly ambitious attempt at making puris for Dussehra. And, of course, chicken lollipops. Because if an air fryer can't handle those, we're going to have a problem. Design The first thing you'll notice about the Nester Home Cook is that it doesn't look like the usual kitchen appliance that you'd rather shove into a cupboard once you're done using it. Its muted colour palette gives it a clean, understated appearance that should sit comfortably on most kitchen countertops. In fact, it's the sort of appliance that makes you want to clear some space for it rather than find a place to hide it. There are two main components to the design: the appliance's main body, which houses the heating coil and controls, and the 6.2-litre glass bowl that holds the food. The latter is made from 6mm-thick, oven-safe borosilicate glass, which feels reassuringly substantial. There's something appealing about being able to see the food you're cooking rather than trusting a timer and hoping for the best. That transparency is also what sets the Home Cook apart from the crowd. Most conventional air fryers rely on opaque baskets, meaning you have to pull them out or interrupt the cooking process to check how things are progressing. Here, you can simply look through the glass and watch your food turn golden brown. It's a small change in principle, but one that makes the cooking process feel a little more engaging. The controls sit on a capacitive touch panel, with presets for common air-frying requirements and a dial to adjust the temperature and cooking time. The layout is straightforward enough, and the dial is a welcome addition to what could otherwise have been an entirely touch-dependent interface. Then there's the acacia wood lid, which adds a nice bit of warmth to the overall design. It can be used to cover the bowl when the appliance isn't cooking, making the container more practical for keeping food covered between uses. The wood also complements the glass rather nicely, reinforcing the Home Cook's identity as a kitchen accessory that happens to be an appliance, rather than the other way around. It's a well-considered design, and the glass bowl is easily its biggest talking point. However, there's one small annoyance with the interface: the capacitive touch controls don't always register commands on the first attempt. Every now and then, I found myself tapping twice to get a response. It isn't a deal-breaker, but it does take a little shine off an otherwise polished experience. Performance The simplest way to judge an air fryer is to forget the marketing for a moment and start cooking. I began with French fries and jalapeno poppers, and neither required the SteamLock™ feature to deliver good results. The fries came out crisp and satisfying, while the poppers made for an easy snack without the need to heat up a pan of oil. For everyday air-fryer staples, the Home Cook got off to a good start. Then came Dussehra, which meant that, like in any Marathi household worth its shrikhand, puri was on the menu. Naturally, I decided to see if the Nester could handle this quintessentially Indian fried bread without the usual bath in hot oil. My first attempt was a disaster. Despite having SteamLock™ running, the puris came out thick and undercooked. Leaving them in for longer wasn't the solution either; they simply began to burn. For a brief moment, I wondered if I'd discovered the limits of oil-free cooking the hard way. A little Googling later, I learnt that making puris in an air fryer requires a different approach, including soaking the dough discs in boiling water before cooking. Once I tried that, the results were considerably better. The puris turned out rather nicely, proving that the appliance can handle more than the usual frozen snacks, provided you understand the technique involved. This experience also underlined an important point: an air fryer isn't a direct, one-to-one replacement for a kadai of hot oil. Some foods need a different preparation method to achieve the right texture, and the Home Cook is no exception. If you're expecting to throw everything into the bowl and get identical results to deep-frying, you'll need to adjust your expectations. And then we come to the chicken. The best part of the experiment, by some distance. I ordered marinated chicken lollipops online, loaded them into the glass bowl and let the Home Cook do its thing. They emerged beautifully cooked, with their juices intact. The meat was tender rather than dried out, and the result was the sort of thing that makes you want to put another batch in immediately. This was where the appliance really came into its own: delivering a satisfying result without the fuss and mess of conventional deep-frying. The SteamLock feature is intended to help retain moisture during cooking, but my experience suggests that its usefulness depends on what you're preparing. The fries and jalapeno poppers were already good without it, while the puris needed a change in technique rather than simply switching the feature on. The chicken lollipops, meanwhile, were the standout success. Overall, the Home Cook is capable of producing genuinely good results. The trick is to treat it as an air fryer with its own cooking characteristics, rather than expecting it to replicate every traditional cooking method without adjustments. Functionality The transparent glass bowl is more than just a design flourish. Being able to watch your food cook is genuinely useful, particularly when you're experimenting with recipes or trying to figure out the right cooking time, as was the case with me and the puris. It also makes it easier to judge how far along the cooking process is without repeatedly opening the appliance. That's useful when you're chasing a particular level of browning or simply trying to avoid overcooking something delicate. Another thoughtful feature is the reminder to flip your food halfway through the cooking cycle. The Home Cook prompts you to turn the food when required, helping you achieve more even cooking without having to memorise every instruction. It's a small but welcome touch, particularly for anyone who is still getting accustomed to air frying. The presets simplify everyday use, while the temperature-and-time dial gives you some manual control when you're feeling adventurous. Between the two, the appliance strikes a reasonable balance between convenience and customisation. The main usability gripe remains the touch panel. The occasional double tap needed to register a command is frustrating on an appliance that otherwise aims to make cooking simpler. It's not something that ruins the experience, but it's an area where the interface could be more responsive. The 6.2-litre capacity also gives you room to experiment with different dishes, although how much you can cook at once will naturally depend on the food and how much space it needs for air to circulate. The glass bowl, meanwhile, adds versatility to the overall concept, while the wooden lid helps keep the container covered when it isn't in use. What the Home Cook ultimately offers is a more visual, less intimidating approach to air frying. It encourages you to keep an eye on your food, experiment with recipes and learn how different ingredients behave. Just don't mistake convenience for complete automation: some dishes will still need a little trial and error.

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