Wow, I realize this is an old thread, but how embarrassing. I came here after a search for "commercial deep fryer for home use" led me here. My first thought was, cool, a website for chefs, this should give me some good advice on a nice deep fryer for home use, since so far my search isn't providing a lot of good options. Then I get this....... So the best answers from the "chefs" are , a deep skillet and a wok. Then a long argument about induction cook tops, like as if most people have an induction cook top. First off, a wok is a horrible choice for the occasional deep fryer at home.
Yeah the Chinese were using woks long before we had deep fryers, but people were also using horses to get around long before we had automobiles. I mean technically I could go outside and deep fry over a camp fire in an empty paint can too, but I'm not gonna. People looking a deep fryer want to be able to control the temperature and ensure at least 350 degrees, since that is a key element in quality deep fried food, and want something that can quickly get back to at least that temp after food is introduced. That means they need to be able to determine the temp, and have something with enough power to get the oil to that temp without going way over and burning their house down.
Which brings us back to why a wok is a HORRIBLE choice for home use. You cant easily determine or control the temperature, and once you are done you have a giant bowl of oil to deal with. Ever notice an easy pour spout on a wok? No? So what kinds of fun do you think is going to happen trying to get all of that oil out of the wok after your one meal? Not to mention the fact that you had to deep fry in a giant open bowl to begin with. Oil will be getting EVERYWHERE, and you can only hope and pray you don't get the oil too hot, or have some kid or accident prone adult tip the thing over or catch it on fire when your phone rings and you don't understand how easily it is to catch oil on fire. With that said, I won't even bother mentioning the skillet method. Yes you can do shallow frying in a pan, and I've seen my mother fry chicken like that 100s of times, but its not deep frying, and it doesn't work well for things like fries, corn dogs, mozzarella, etc. Heck it doesn't even do chicken all that well. If I remember correctly my mothers fried chicken was never crispy. In short, if you are reading this and decide to use a wok, PLEASE be super super careful, and be prepared for a very messy kitchen afterward. DO NOT leave the Wok unattended and keep all children far away from the kitchen. It WILL splatter hot oil every where, so if you are using a gas stove with an open flame then be aware that if you have the oil too hot it will splatter heavily when you introduce food to it, or if you drip some of that oil down the sides and it rolls down to that flame, you are going to start a fire. I suggest reading up on how to put out an oil fire before trying this method. I have one horror story of my own that I got extremely lucky on. I was using a large pot to cook some fries. My phone rang and in a matter of a couple of minutes there was an open flame above the pot because the oil got too hot. I grabbed the first thing near me which was a pot in the sink with water. For those of you who know what water does to an oil fire, you can only imagine. The entire kitchen was singed in flame for a brief second, but for some strange reason it burned itself out almost immediately. I got lucky. It still destroyed the stove fan and overhang and most of the paint on the ceiling which was covered in black smoke.
With all of that said, let me provide what I have found so far in my own research. In short, there aren't any really good options for deep fryers at home. I can only assume that companies are worried about liability if they sell something for home use that has the power to heat oil to the temps needed to fry well, because there are very limited options. So far as of this date the best thing I could find is the Waring Pro DF280, but as of 12/12/2016 it is discontinued and I'm not sure why. It has the highest wattage at 1800 watts and 3 different size baskets. It does have a LOT of bad reviews, but it also has a LOT of good ones. Several different sites list it as the No. 1 pick, but it sounds like you will have to get lucky to find a good one that will last more than a couple of months. Even the good ones claim varying success in getting the temp over 350 and staying there, but as of now its the best option as long as you can get one before the stock runs out.
There are some other options for smaller commercial grade deep fryers out there, but smaller still means at least 2 feet of counter top space, and like 8 gallons of oil, but for those who have large kitchens it might be doable as they do have covers when not in use. Still, you are talking about a minimum of $250 dollars worth of investment. I suppose we are going to try and go with the Waring and hope for the best until we build our forever home and have the kitchen space for a real deep fryer.