Air fryer marketing implies obsolescence for frying itself. Kitchen reality draws a narrower boundary that serves both machines — if you map foods to methods honestly.
What air fryers do well: anything breaded-from-frozen, anything wanting dry circulated heat — fries from scratch, roasted vegetables, reheating fried leftovers to near-original crispness. They excel at convenience and win calorie arguments by using little oil.
What they cannot replicate: wet batters. Pakora, bajji, medu vada — batters engineered for immersion need oil's instant contact to set structure. Air circulation around liquid batter produces pale, gummy, disappointed results. This isn't technique failure; it's physics refusing marketing.
Also outside air fryer jurisdiction: puri (needs full submersion for even puff), jalebi (flowing batter geometry), anything where oil IS the flavour medium — the entire fried-sweets category.
Capacity reality check too: basket machines handle two servings; family fry sessions mean five rounds of batches, where a wide kadhai's oil economy wins on time dramatically.
The honest household conclusion: air fryers earn their counter space alongside traditional frying, not over it. Weekday frozen-snack duty and healthy-roast duty go to the machine. Festival batches, street-food cravings and sweets stay with the kadhai — where the craft, the crunch physics and the culture all live.
Different jobs. Own both if you cook both ways; neither pretends to be the other.
Air fryer basket of fries beside kadhai of golden frying pakoras.