Anova Precision Oven 2.0 vs Breville Smart Oven Air Fryer Pro (BOV900BSS)

No other home countertop oven offers adjustable steam from 0–100% relative humidity. This isn't a gimmick: Serious Eats confirmed it keeps proteins moist, improves baked good rise, and enables sous vide-style cooking without a water bath. But that 1.5-gallon reservoir adds physical bulk, setup complexity, and a learning curve that most home cooks will find exhausting. The Breville has no steam at all — and its 92/100 consensus score proves you don't need it to cook exceptionally well.

The Anova costs $1,299. The Breville costs $320–$500. That $800 difference buys you a standalone air fryer, an immersion circulator, and still leaves money on the table. The Anova's steam capability is real and tested, but it needs to be worth nearly triple the price of the best-reviewed countertop oven on the market. For most households, it simply isn't.

The Breville's 13 cooking modes — including air fry, dehydrate, proof, slow cook, and keep warm — cover virtually every countertop cooking task. CNET found it produced best-in-class broiled salmon and tied for best cookies. Good Housekeeping tested whole chicken, cake, and pizza, all cooked evenly. The Anova's strength is precision steam cooking; outside of that lane, it's a very expensive convection oven competing against a machine that was purpose-built for exactly this.

Multi-stage cooking sequences and remote start sound compelling until you realize Serious Eats' own tester explicitly said she preferred ovens that required a physical button press to avoid accidentally turning it on remotely. The app-dependent workflow also means you're relying on software updates, connectivity, and a learning curve just to preheat. The Breville has dials and buttons that work every time, which is why r/Cooking users have been recommending it for years without a single complaint about the interface.