17 out of 17 people found this review helpful.
A Decent Compact Rice Cooker
Date of Review: Aug 28, 2005
The Bottom Line: A compact rice cooker that will suffice for small households -- likely not the best available, but performs decently considering the price.
I received this rice cooker as a housewarming gift. I had been planning on purchasing a Chinese or Japanese brand of rice cooker (similar to the ones I grew up with), but decided to give this one a try. Overall, I find it to be a decent product.
Comes With:
Stainless steel base, removable nonstick cooking pot, glass lid with steam vent, plastic rice paddle, plastic rice scoop/measuring cup.
Likes:
For looks and counter appeal, the square, stainless steel design is hard to beat. The retractable cord is very handy, just one tug and it easily coils back into the base. In terms of cooking performance, I have only prepared white rice in the cooker and the end result was fine. I like that they have made measuring proportions of rice/water easier by linking the # of scoops of rice to the water lines marked on the inside of the pot (e.g. fill pot with 1 level scoop of rice then fill pot with water until it reaches the "1" water line). So far I have used the steamer basket for steaming vegetables and it does a fair job, although the relatively small basket won't allow you to fill it with too much food.
Dislikes:
I have not had any problems with boil-overs, although the open steam vent does on occasion spit out water, particularly when making larger quantities of rice. My biggest complaint would be its basic design, specifically, that there is no contraption to collect the condensation that gathers on the underside of the lid; when you lift the lid off, the water inevitably drips back onto the rice (this is an inconvenience, but doesn't necessarily affect the quality of the cooked rice). It would also be nice if there was a switch to turn the cooker off versus having to unplug it -- the only settings available are "Cook" and "Warm" (which it automatically switches to when the rice is cooked). Also, the lid doesn't sit very securely onto the cooker. This isn't a problem when it's in use, but is sometimes a hassle when I'm carrying the entire unit round and the lid has a tendency to want to slide off.
In conclusion...
If I were to have purchased a rice cooker on my own, this likely wouldn't have been at the top of the list, but it works just fine for now.
