Rice Cookers
Rice cookers  are indispensable for a grain-based diet. The name is somewhat misleading, since rice cookers can be used for a wide variety of grains and with beans and other legumes as well! Instead of watching the rice on the stove, you can put it in the rice cooker, turn it on, and forget about it for a half hour. No more burnt pots or inedible grains.
Many rice cookers can double as steamers or warmers for vegetables and other foods.
What to Look For- Capacity
- A 3- to 5-cup model is adequate for two or three people, or a small family.
- Opt for more capacity (6-10 cups) if you have a big family or tend to cook large quantities at once.
- Keep in mind that price will rise or fall according to size.
- Size will also make a difference in storage. Do you have room to store a the size rice cooker you want?
- When reading product specs, make sure you know whether they mean "10 cups dry" or "10 cups cooked" -- there is a big difference!
- Extra functions
- Some people want a warmer or warming function to keep the rice warm after cooking, and a steamer is necessary if you want your rice cooker to be multi-functional.
- Ease of cleaning
- Most are non-stick, which makes for easy clean up.
- Some may need some soaking.
- Programmability
- Timers and autostop functions are good if you need to leave the cooker unattended or if you just happen to forget that you are cooking something.
- The most advanced rice cookers come with features like delayed start, extended keep warm, and different settings for different types and textures of rice (long grain vs. sushi rice, hard vs. soft).
- Accessories
- Steaming baskets might be useful if you plan to use the steamer for other foods.
- Some cookers come with a rice spatula and a slot to store it in.
Quick Recommendations - You pretty much can't go wrong with a Zojirushi -- the vast majority of their rice cookers are rated at least 4 stars on Amazon.com.
- Sanyo and Panasonic also make excellent cookers.
- Most rice cookers do an excellent job at their primary function -- cooking rice. Differences between models mainly have to do with how well they do other things, like oatmeal, porridge, steaming vegetables, etc.
- Most reviews indicate that steaming vegetables in any rice cooker does not produce results as good as what you would get with a dedicated steamer or simply over boiling water with a steamer insert for your pot.
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