For busy home cooks, speed is the name of the game. Until now, air fryers have been the fastest, most reliable alternative to traditional ovens, which take longer to cook and require additional time to preheat. Air fryers cook food roughly 25% faster than wall ovens, but a new fast-cooking technology has stepped into the ring. I saw it on display last week at KBIS 2026, the sprawling home and kitchen showcase in Orlando.
New forms of cooking heat don’t come around often — which made Sharp’s KBIS 2026 debut all the more compelling. The Sharp Celerity High-Speed Oven packs three cooking technologies into a coordinated blast, roasting chicken and baking cookies “three times faster than a conventional oven.”
The quick-cook function — aka the golden heater — uses traditional true convection combined with microwave heat to penetrate food quickly and deeply, along with infrared to sizzle and crisp the outside.
The use of microwave heat accounts for the expedited cooking time, while more traditional convection is meant to prevent food from drying out. Plus, we’re told the oven requires almost no preheat time when the golden heater mode is implemented.
In a live demo, the Sharp team members baked cookies that emerged from the oven gooey and golden in 9 minutes. A traditional convection oven would take at least 15 minutes to do the same job. We tasted them, of course, and they were as good as grandma’s — gently crispy on the outside and perfectly soft and melty inside.
We’re told a 5-pound chicken can be roasted in 30 minutes, even faster than in an air fryer.
Speaking of air fryers, if you prefer that method, this oven offers it, too. In all, the oven has nine manual modes, including air fry, quick cook, microwave, convection bake and roast.
I asked the on-site representative whether they’re concerned that home cooks will struggle to adapt recipes to this new form of heat. Because it’s an industry-first cooking mode, they said, the oven includes dozens of preloaded cooking programs — all tested by the company’s culinary experts — to help with the learning curve.
The oven also packs in a range of smart features, many of which are familiar from other modern models. Its “Sensor Cook” tech uses moisture sensors to determine ideal cooking times and temperatures, while a built-in camera lets you monitor your food as it cooks to help prevent burning.
The Celerity is available on Sharp’s website now for $3,999.99.
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