AROMA Digital Rice Cooker, 4-Cup (Uncooked) / 8-Cup (Cooked), Steamer, Grain Cooker, Multicooker, 2 Qt, Stainless Steel Exterior, ARC-914SBD

TL;DR: Buy this, it’s amazing. There’s no need to buy a fancier model, this makes perfect rice, is simple, is inexpensive, and does not take up much room. As someone with extensive experience in the kitchen, both professionally and at home, I cannot imagine anything simpler to cook than rice. There are only 2 ingredients, rice & water and it's not very complicated. With so many appliances in my kitchen, why bother with another thing to buy, use once, and take up storage space? I have enough gadgets that seemed great on paper (air fryers, bread makers, etc.) which did not do the job as well as I could do using traditional methods, and which were often difficult to clean and maintain. So, a rice cooker? A machine to replace the easiest food in the world to cook? Why? My wife had suggested one, after all, all of the restaurants that served rice used them. But, I explained (probably incorrectly) they need to make a LOT of rice; we don't, and that's probably why they use them. Then I came across an article in one of my favorite food magazines, where they test products and came across their review of rice cookers. This rice cooker received the highest rating and was the least expensive of all their tests (and this is a serious chef's magazine, not supported by advertising; their reviews are spot-on and unbiased). And so, I bit the bullet and thought that if it was garbage, I'd just toss it, it was inexpensive enough. As soon as I got this, I wanted to use it and prove to my wife why it was a waste of money and space, and how even a review from an almost always dependable magazine, could be wrong, Of course, I tried some basmati rice because I knew that there was no way that I was going to get fluffy rice with discrete, pieces of rice not stuck together. Once more I would show her who was right. Wrong. After about 33 minutes when the machine said that the rice was done, I opened the lid and, behold, it was perfect! Each grain of rice was perfectly cooked, separate from all the other grains, flowable, and it was the same from the top of the pot to the bottom. Amazing and impressive. Then I decided that the time/temperature etc. of this gadget must have been designed for basmati rice, let's try some short-grain sticky rice for sushi. Damn, how does it know? Again, perfect. I'm now a believer, I admit I was very wrong, and the answer to who needs a rice cooker is: I do and You do. - This machine cleans up beautifully, it leaves no rice on the bottom of the pot. - It is simple to use. - It cooks rice perfectly My only issue with it is, as per the attached photos, it is very difficult to see the water line markings on the inside of the pot. This machine is too good, however, to deduct any points for that. Two things to point out: 1) The cup that it comes with equals 3/4 of a dry cup measure. It says that in the instructions but on the cup itself, there is a 3/4 full mark. That's a bit confusing but, the measuring cup is 3/4 cup when it is filled to the top. If you fill it to the 3/4 mark, you're weighing out 3/4 of a cup (or a little over 1/2 of a regular cup) so just fill it to the brim. 2) There is a steam vent on the lid. It's probably not best to place this under a cabinet; condensation will form on the underside of the cabinet and drip or, worse, penetrate the cabinet wood and get moldy. Keep it in a position so that the vent is clear of anything above it. I highly recommend, despite my previous insistence that nobody needs a rice cooker, this machine. It's amazing. Review of: Aroma Housewares 2-8-Cups (Cooked) Digital Cool-Touch Rice Grain Cooker and Food Steamer

I used to be one of those people who thought a rice cooker was just another kitchen gadget destined to be used once, shoved into a cabinet, and eventually donated. I was wrong! This thing is fantastic! It’s incredibly simple to use, takes the guesswork out of cooking rice, and delivers perfect rice every time. No more watching the stove, worrying about burning the bottom, or ending up with rice that’s too mushy or too dry. In a world where everyone is busy, having something that makes meal prep this easy is a game changer. It’s convenient, reliable, and honestly one of the best kitchen purchases I’ve made. If you’re on the fence about getting a rice cooker, consider this your sign.

We love this so much, that we've bought 2 - one for our household and one as a gift. It makes perfect rice and has transformed the way we meal plan. With a lot of use and perhaps being a little to aggressive with cleaning, the inner pot eventually began to chip a little. Why did I still give it 5 stars? Because that's what happens with all nonstick if you use it enough and aren't careful - even high priced items I've I buy from Williams-Sonoma have chipped over time. We had our rice cooker for over a year and were using it daily. I've just replaced the inner pot with the Linkidea Rice Cooker Stainless Steel Inner Pot I found on Amazon. It was difficult to tell from the description which AROMA model it fit, but it seems to work well with this cooker.

The rice cooker works fine overall, although sometimes there is a heated plastic smell while it is running. The rice turns out well, and the inner pot is easy to clean and doesn’t stick easily.

I always use brown rice and was leery about buying this kind of steamer. I had a vegetable and rice steamer for over 10 years that I loved. It was just an oval one with the clear plastic bowl for the veggies and had a rice bowl you put in it. It had a dial that you turned to the amount of time y9u wanted your food to cook for. It was perfect for brown rice because I could put however much water I wanted In with the rice and then set it for 60 minutes and then later another 15-20. So I was sad when it died and nervous about this one. This one did work very well. I followed the directions, but did add a little extra water. I found that for brown rice, the recommended amount of water was not enough. When I checked on it after it was done, the water had completely absorbed in and the brown rice was a little too hard. Not crunchy or really hard, just not quite right. (I do not like my rice mushy. I have eaten brown rice all my life, along with other grains.) i had to add more water and cook it for a little longer. I did find that some rice was stuck to the bottom, but not burned. I have always used twice as much water to brown rice and cooked it for around 80 minutes. I think with brown rice, it will take some experimenting to figure out what works best for each person. Next time, I’m going to add more water and cook it longer. (only way to cook it longer than 60 minutes is to start it over again, which is easy.) If I end up adding too much water, I will just cook it a little longer. I washed it by hand, and I didn’t put it in the dishwasher. It is small and light so it is easy to put in a cupboard. There are some recipes in the manual for other grains. Anyway, I like this and it did work for brown rice. You just might have to experiment with the cooking time and water amount a little bit. The only thing that bugs me is that the inside pan the rice goes in has two sets of lines and numbers. It has cups on one side and a lower case e on the other. The lines under the e do not match up with the lines under the word cups. The numbers are different too. The ones under the e are 0.2 up through 0.8. I thought maybe the e and the 0.2-0.8 was liters or something but am not sure. I read the manual and googled and couldn’t find the answer. I’m sure it is something obvious, and doesn’t effect anything at all. I’m just curious. Update 12/19/20- After using this rice cooker quite often between now and when I got it, I wish I had bought a different rice cooker. My old Sunbeam one was much better. With the Aroma cooker, the water that is in with the rice is what is steaming. The rice comes out pretty stuck together, no matter how I adjust the water amount. If I follow the directions and only use the proper amount of water, the brown rice isn’t cooked enough and is hard still. Another big disadvantage of the Aroma is that the rice sticks to the bottom and while I don’t have to scrub it off, I do have to soak it for hours and apply pressure with a dish cloth to get it clean. The Sunbeam, which I include a link for so you can see what I’m talking about, had you put water below what you are steaming. It had a bowl for the rice and you also put water in with the rice. The water that was below and not with the rice is what got hot and steamy. It cooked the rice just fine, perfectly in fact. The timer only went for 60 minutes, so I did have to add some more time, but this was no big deal. Often, I would start the rice earlier in the day at around 2 or 3 and then cook it the last 20 or so before dinner. The Sunbeam was also much easier to clean. The brown rice turned out soft, but not mushy, and was not all stuck together. It was perfect. The only thing thing the Aroma has that I like better is that it does have a delay start. (It was this one, but I am not paying this much-https://www.amazon.com/Sunbeam-Instant-4710-Vegetable-Cooker/dp/B07MMG9L96/ref=asc_df_B07MMG9L96/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=385191967814&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=17843216542356355794&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9032623&hvtargid=pla-836131536875&psc=1&tag=&ref=&adgrpid=78082493949&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvadid=385191967814&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=17843216542356355794&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9032623&hvtargid=pla-836131536875)

Absolutely love this rice cooker! I never knew I needed this so badly!! Cooks rice perfectly without all the mess! Quick and easy to use! Highly recommend!!

This cooker is proof that you don't have to buy the most expensive one on the shelf to get a great product. This thing makes rice so easy that there is no excuse not to have rice every day. Easy clean up to. The only thing I wish it had was easier to read markings on the inside of the pot but for the price I'll let it go.

Okay. I'll give it five stars based on the rice it produces and easy of use and design. It does indeed make pretty much perfect rice, white, brown, wild, etc. as well as other grains. It comes with a little measuring cup. The water level marks inside (none too easy to see, are calibrated for the number of these little cups of grain you use. But the cup is about 3/4 cup, Why? Because that's 1-gou, the standard Japanese rice serving measure. But that's no big deal. Nor is it a problem that the water marks inside are hard to read. Just use one measure of water to one measure of rice. I know. That's different from your usual ratio for stovetop rice. There's a little bit of learning to do at first. I use more water with brown rice, more like 1.5 water to one brown rice. And some rice is drier than other rices, and need more water. I find that you can have a little more water, but you don't want to have too little, because the rice will be less than fully prepared. For instance, I forgot about the little measuring cup and absentmindedly used a full one cup measure but added water to the line for two gou. I got slightly underdone rice. Remember that the cooker knows when the water has been absorbed. Rice cookers work because, so long as there is free water in the pot, the temperature cannot rise above 212F (at sea level). So all the pot need do is stop cooking and reduce temperature to warm when the pot temperature rises about 212F. That's why it works for all grains. And that means the cooker doesn't really know when the rice is done, only when the water is gone. Now, you will see all sorts of different ratios recommended by rice cooker recipes and for different cookers. Lots of people use 1.5:1 for white rice. Quinoa is happier with a 2:1 ratio. Anything reasonably close will work, so long as you use enough water for the grain to be fully cooked when the water is gone. If you use a little more water than you needed, it will go on cooking until absorbed. The worst that will happen is that it might get a little softer than you'd like. And you can even fix it when you open the pot and find it isn't quite done. Just add a bit more water and start the cycle again. The cooker will still know when that water is absorbed. That's the lovely thing about a rice cooker. It can sort of peak under the lid for you, plus it doesn't have to be watched.

Excelente!! Estoy encantada

Fácil de usar. Manual sencillo de uso y de buena capacidad. El arroz queda perfecto y ademas tiene la opcion para mantener la temperatura. La usamos casi a diario. Ha sido una buena compra definitivamente. La dejas funcionando y como la debes estar cuidando te permite aprovechar ese tiempo de cocción en otras cosas del hogar o bien cocinar otras cosas mientras esta listo! En ocasiones lo pongo en la mañana para que el resto de la familia lo coma recien hecho a la hora de la comida porque conserva bien la temperatura ademas de tener esta opción que no he usado siempre porque la mayoria del tiempo no es necesario el boton de "mantener temperatura"

Unfortunately, the seller forgot to mention in the description the big disclaimer that the rice cocker that they are selling causes cancer (see picture). I tried to return the product to get my money back and it was really painful as the seller did not wanted to pay for the return at first. Then when I managed to get a prepaid label, they resended the parcel back again by mistake, but they did not send the money. Still no money received and they expect that I pay to return the package (that they mistakely re-sent). Will really not reccomend this product.

Works well. Great for 4 to 5 people. Cooks perfect rice every time,. It took a bit to figure out that the cup measure inside is actually 3/4 of a cup not 1 cup so if I lose the cup measure that comes with the set I can use a 3/4 measuring cup in its place. You put the rice in, using the 3/4 cup measure, then fill up to required water line, turn it on, then select type of rice. It takes about 25 for white rice as there is a pre -warming time then 12 minutes of steaming, then it switches to the warming setting. It takes a little longer than cooking rice on the stove as, but in the end it saves time because I never have to check back on it once its set up. I really didn't think I needed a rice cooker as rice is so easy to cook but I love it. No mess from boiling over, no watching it, and no burning dry. The rice is warm when you go to eat it. A gluten free friend sets hers up in the morning and lets the rice stay warm all day for meals.

Good