We've decided it's time to get one for the kitchen. Anyone have experience with them?

Always go bigger we have a fry daddy jr and I wish it was three times larger.

Agree.  Maintaining oil temp is key, and a small deep fryer will cool down too much when you drop in frozen food.  Ends up soggy vs crispy.



We're pretty pleased with our Presto Pro-fry 2-basket deep fryer.



 

I've been through several different iterations of deep fryers, and what I use now and like the best:  a big cast iron dutch oven on the stovetop.  It's not without its drawbacks (it's heavy, a bitch to clean, etc.), but it works better than anything else I've used, and has the most capacity.  The dutch oven I'm using came with a fry basket, which is handy.

I didn't think about it cooling down too much. Definitely an issue. Only reason I'd rather have a dedicated fryer is that it'll get used once a week or so.

Get an outdoor one, your house will smell better.

 

Storing one in the kitchen smells that bad?

Using one once a week will leave your house covered in grease and smelling awful.

 

hmm

You can get a nice turkey fryer and oil for the cost of a decent countertop fryer.

Completely disagree.  We fry at least once a week, usually  twice, and have no issues with grease and smell.  We use peanut oil, and honestly don't change it very frequently.  Maybe 3-4 times a year.



 

+1.  No problems here either, even with the big open dutch oven.

agree that fry outside when possible if you don't have a good exhaust
Also heard if you use Crisco (that white solid shit) it wont smell --as bad (but will kill you due to its unhealthy qualities)  I use canola--fairly "healthy"

I have tried both the single, and double size fryers, and I have had better luck with single.  The double had more oil, but potentially twice as much food-cooling it even more  and it had a smaller wattage heater....  I was running the single and double side by side and single outperformed the double

check the various models and get the highest wattage you can.

I have noticed huge differences in how fast different single models heat up---again, look for high wattage

Get one you can take apart and remove the heating element and put the bowl into sink to clean/dishwasher.  trust me.

my secrets:
-------wings.  Fresh only-  frozen have water added and ice on them---very bad.  Also, fry wings for like two min and lift basket--let oil reheat and drop again
-------Homemade fries -- get a fry slicer--soak fries in vinegar/water for 20 min and then fry.  drop them into fully hot oil for two min and pull--let reheat fully and finish them off

Smell?  no prob---my 60" range hood takes care of the prob

now I want some unhealthy(but tasty) deep fried food.

I use a cast iron pot on the stove top, gas flame.  

After spending the weekend with a friend with a non-commercial stove, I can see reasons to not recommend this.  I have very high BTU burners and I also have a flame proof range hood.  Some stoves just won't get oil hot enough in the same week, and if they did, it would be just too dangerous.  

I don't have an electric deep fryer because I know I don't have the space for an adequately sized one.  

An outside burner and pot is great for a large batch of fries, but many folks just don't have the year-round great weather that we have around here.

Where does this danger lie?

As per my post above, I use a big cast iron dutch oven for a deep fryer, on a regular consumer cooktop (started out with electric coils, but when those got too hard to find went to ceramic flat-surface).  I've never had any problem getting it up to 350F, or higher if you don't keep an eye on it.  As long as you don't do something stupid like dump a whole bag of ice-covered frozen french fries in there all at once, I don't see why this is any more dangerous than any other open-top fryer.

I have been frying turkeys for the holidays for many years.  that of course entails use of an outdoor propane rig which is extremely vulnerable to the elements.  you do not want to be outside trying to fry turkeys in rain and heavy winds.  this year I bought a butterball xl turkey fryer.  it is an electric fryer to be used indoors.  

when frying a turkey the most important thing is temperature control.  you have to be able to achieve an even temperature and cook the bird minutes per pound.  I found that the butterball kept rock solid temperature control and I was able to duplicate my results continuously.  If it was set at 350 it stayed at 350.  

The good thing is that you can fry anything with this rig.  You will smell up your kitchen with a butterball xl.  I used mine in the garage to avoid that.  This rig can handle a 20lb turkey so that is the capability you are dealing with.  

Now I just want to see how long this thing will last.

Presto GrandPappy fryer here. Works great and dosent take up a bunch of room. Use peanut oil and filter it between uses to make it last longer.

Related to this topic, do you guys filter your oil after use?

Ideally, if there is such a thing out there, I'd like to get a filter that will remove not just debris like breading, but separate out any water as well.

I'd go with a dutch oven and a good fry thermometer.  You can do all kinds of cooking with a dutch oven, and frying in one helps to keep it seasoned.

My filter setup consists of a funnel, and a cone shaped coffee filter. You can use a fine siv to get the larger breading crumbs out. It takes a while for the oil to gravity flow through the filter but it helps to filter it right away while its still hot. There isn't much, if any at all, moisture in the oil when its at 350 def F.