Flex-drawer air fryer (one drawer, removable divider)
Instant Vortex Plus VersaZone 8.5L
Model AFB9002BK — United Kingdom, European Union
One 8.5-litre drawer that a removable divider turns into two 4.2-litre zones. 1700W. The model the flex-drawer architecture was added for.
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Where to get real advice for this machine
Almost everything that changes a cooking answer is a property of the architecture rather than the badge. This is a flex-drawer air fryer, and the Flex-drawer air fryer page carries the cooking guidance that actually applies to it.
Undivided, treat it as a basket machine with more room: times and temperatures transfer unchanged and the extra area means a portion that would have been heaped in a smaller drawer can go in one layer, which is worth more than any time adjustment. Divided, the critical difference from a dual-basket machine is that BOTH SIDES SHARE ONE TEMPERATURE and one fan — you can set two timers, not two temperatures. Pair foods that want the same heat and different times, not foods that want different heat.
Does it genuinely air-fry?
Genuine air frying
Assessed against the criteria with the manual confirming the construction: a cooking tray inside a basket, elevating food so air reaches underneath, with the manual stating explicitly that food may sit directly on the tray without foil or other coverings. Fast air and air reaching every surface are met, and drainage is by design.
- Air moves fast, not just around
- Air reaches every surface of the food
- Recovers temperature quickly after loading
- Fat and moisture drain away
- Reaches genuine browning temperatures
What we know about this machine
Read from Instant Vortex Plus VersaZone 8.5L Air Fryer — User Manual (PDF), retrieved on 2026-08-13.
It is rated at 1700 W, an ordinary domestic rating that recovers temperature reasonably quickly after cold food goes in. It has a single cooking drawer, so everything in it cooks at one temperature for one time. It runs from 82°C to 205°C, which covers ordinary air frying and is too warm at the bottom end to dehydrate with. On preheating: has a preheat programme. It is sold as 8.5 litres, which measures the whole drawer including the space above the food that you must not fill.
The figures above are the manufacturer’s. What they mean for cooking is AirfryerHQ’s reading of them, not a measurement — nobody here has run this machine.
Size and capacity
- Advertised capacity
- 8.5 litresA volume, not a cooking area.
- On the worktop
- 384 × 404 × 314 mmBefore clearance. It needs space above and behind as well.
- Weight
- 7.1 kg
Power and heat
- Power
- 1700 W
- Temperature range
- 82–205°C
Setup and cleaning
- Cooking zones
- 1
- Preheating
- Has a preheat programme
- Dishwasher safe
- Cooking tray, Air fryer basketEverything else is a hand-wash, and the main unit never goes in.
- Supplied with
- Cooking tray, Tray divider
In the manual’s own words: An explicit Preheat step, with an Add Food prompt when the target temperature is reached and a Turn Food prompt part-way through. The manual notes that the Add Food prompt applies to Air Fry, Roast, Bake and Grill only.
Retrieved from Argos's manual library for Argos product 124/2568.
5 figures we could not establish
Each of these says WHY it is missing. “Not recorded by the sources consulted” means the manufacturer does not publish it in the document we read — not that nobody looked, and not that the figure does not exist.
- Usable cooking area
- Not recorded by the sources consulted — Not published.
- Chamber
- Not recorded by the sources consulted — Not published.
- Power range as published
- Not applicable — A single rated figure is published.
- Adjusts in
- Not recorded by the sources consulted — Not stated.
- Standby power
- Not recorded by the sources consulted — Not published by this manufacturer. Only one model in this catalogue publishes a standby figure at all.
What each setting actually does
Read from the manual. The marketing name is what is printed on the panel; the canonical capability is what the mode is in generic terms, so a reader can find advice written for somebody else’s appliance.
| On the panel | Canonically | Starts at | Settable range | Preheat |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Air Fry | Air fry | 196°C | 82–205°C | Yes |
| Roast | Roast | 205°C | 82–205°C | Yes |
| Bake | Bake | 176°C | 82–205°C | Yes |
| Grill | Grill | 205°C | 205–205°C | Yes |
| Reheat | Reheat | 138°C | 49–182°C | No |
| Dehydrate | Dehydrate | 54°C | 35–79°C | No |
Error codes and display states
Only what this manufacturer publishes, and only for this manufacturer. A code means whatever the firmware author decided it means, and reading one across from another brand is the commonest way to misdiagnose a fault.
AirfryerHQ does not hold this code for this manufacturer. That is a statement about this catalogue and not about your appliance: most manufacturers publish no code table at all, and a code's meaning is specific to the firmware that produced it. Do not read a meaning across from another brand — check your own manual, and contact the manufacturer if it is not in there.
Cleaning this model
The parts this architecture has, what collects on each, and what its own manual permits. Full methods and prohibitions are on the cleaning pages.
| Part | What is on it | How often | Dishwasher |
|---|---|---|---|
| Basket | Ordinary residue after cooking | After every use | Dishwasher safe on the models we hold |
| Basket | Burnt-on residue | When it needs it | Depends on your model — check the manual |
| Basket | Ordinary residue after cooking | After every use | Depends on your model — check the manual |
| Basket | Stuck food | When it needs it | Depends on your model — check the manual |
| Crisper plate | Looking after the coating | When it needs it | Depends on your model — check the manual |
| Drawer | Greasy film | After every use | Dishwasher safe on the models we hold |
| Interior of the chamber | Greasy film | After every use | Not removable, so the question does not arise |
| Interior of the chamber | Greasy film | About weekly | Not removable, so the question does not arise |
| Interior of the chamber | Lingering smell | When it needs it | Not removable, so the question does not arise |
| Heating element area | Carbonised deposit | About monthly | Not removable, so the question does not arise |
| Fan and air intake | Greasy film | About monthly | Not removable, so the question does not arise |
| Exterior and body | Greasy film | About weekly | Not removable, so the question does not arise |
| Controls and display | Greasy film | About weekly | Not removable, so the question does not arise |
The manual carries a direct prohibition worth repeating on any page about this appliance: do not cover the cooking tray or any part of the oven with foil, because this will cause the oven to overheat. It also states the appliance must not run for more than 60 minutes in any 2-hour period.
Replaceable parts
AirfryerHQ holds no part records for Instant Vortex Plus VersaZone 8.5L. That is a statement about this catalogue rather than about the appliance: every air fryer has a basket and most have a crisper plate, and the manual read for this model does not enumerate them in a way we could record. What can be replaced, and what to ask for covers the general case, including where to find the model number a parts desk will ask you for.
Recall and safety status
Recall status not checked
No verified recall or safety notice is currently recorded in AirfryerHQ for this appliance. That is a statement about this catalogue and not about the product: AirfryerHQ holds a small number of checked alerts and is not a copy of the UK register. Check the authority's own register before concluding that an appliance is unaffected.
The Office for Product Safety and Standards publishes the UK register of product safety alerts, reports and recalls on GOV.UK, and Electrical Safety First operates a recall checker for electrical appliances. Registering an appliance with its manufacturer is what makes a direct notification possible.
AirfryerHQ has no recall data feed and has not checked. That is not a clean bill of health — it is an absence of checking, and it is recorded as one. Check the manufacturer’s own recall page and your national product-safety register.
About this model
A single large chamber with a tray divider, giving either one 8.5-litre space or two 4.2-litre ones. It is genuinely a different architecture from a dual-basket machine and reading its manual is what established that: one chamber and one heat source means the two zones necessarily share a temperature, so it can cook one large item that a dual-basket machine cannot, and cannot run two temperatures that a dual-basket machine can.
Owning this machine
The questions that come after the cooking.
- Looking after itFive minutes a week and one check a month, nearly all of it about grease.
- What to clean it withIncluding which tool every manufacturer in this catalogue prohibits.
- The coating, and when a basket is finishedThe part that decides how long this appliance lasts.
- Replacing a part, and what to ask forWhere the model and serial numbers are, and why no order code appears here.
- Accessories, and whether you need themWith the verdicts first and no affiliate links anywhere.
- Repair, replace, or stop using itThe symptoms that mean stop now, and the ones that mean a part.