Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Although always learning, I'm pretty skilled in the kitchen and, with a ten-burner stove you might say I'm a bit overboard. One of the skills that's eluded me is making outstanding rice, especially as I try to cook with a wide variety of rice. About 70% of the time it came out well but there was a 30% failure rate -- usually from being distracted with other things. For the past few years, I've been interested in a rice cooker. Naturally, there are those expensive ones appealing to a certain segment of the population but, for me the technology of the rice cooker seemed simple enough. Being satisfied with another Aroma appliance, a twin-basket deep fryer, I felt emboldened to purchase their rice cooker (I also knew it comes with Amazon's iron-clad guarantee). I expect the $200+ cookers come with a nicely printed color brochure, but using this is so straghtforward that we can dispense with the glossy photos of ecstatic models. In truth, this has all the bells and whistles of the expensive ones. Most important seems to be the 'fuzzy logic' that drives the timing. It's only natural that i should be somewhat fuzzy about what Fuzzy Logic is but here's my take on it. Somehow, the machine figures out the perfect cooking time for the particular type of rice you are cooking. There is a difference between the cooking of jasmine, basmati, gold canilla and short-grain sticky rice. Evidently, the fuzzy logic chip figures this out and all I needed to do was put in the rice (pre-washed, as I always do it) and the water, close it up, turn it on and press the White Rice button. It beeps when ready and will hold the rice at an ideal heat for hours after, so there's none of the last minute rushing. Hot, perfectly cooked rice is there when you need it. And trust me, the rice is always PERFECT. There's another button...Brown Rice. Lundberg's makes a mix of wild rice and brown rice which has always been my bête noire. I've never gotten it right. But using this rice cooker and pressing the Brown Rice button, it's as though it figured out the optimal average for those very different types of rice. For the first time I understood how that mix was supposed to taste. There are provisions for steaming foods in a basket, but I have a flawless steaming rig for the stove, so I've yet to try it. Cleanup is easy. Of course you have to use care and not treat it as though you're scrubbing down a tractor. I suspect that's the reason the coating peeled but, a simple sponge and water and that's it. There's also a clever little container that catches condensation from the lid. That pops out and is easily emptied. I have a three-room kitchen/pantry so I can make room for something like this. The only con would be for those with a smaller kitchen. Still, it's well worth the effort of finding the space for it. I think, like me, you'll be finding more use for this appliance than you originally thought and, at less than forty bucks, there's little reason to hesitate.