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

This was my very first time using a rice cooker, and I’m so glad I chose this one. Setup was simple, the instructions were clear, and within 30 minutes I had perfectly fluffy rice with no sticking or burning. The keep-warm setting worked great, and it stayed just as good even after sitting for a while. I also tried the steamer basket for veggies at the same time, and everything came out perfectly cooked. The size is just right for small meals but still makes enough for leftovers.Cleanup was super easy too—just rinsed the nonstick pot and it was done. For a first-time user, this really couldn’t have been easier, and I’m excited to try different grains and recipes in it.

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 perfectlyMy 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

Great rice cooker with steamer—easy to use, cooks perfectly, and cleans fast.

I have a Zojirushi rice cooker, but I wanted a rice cooker with a sauté function which the Zojirushi doesn't have. I had bought another brand with the sauté function, but it was a sauté/simmer function which meant the unit would sauté until liquid was added and it would automatically switch to the simmer function. For some recipes, this doesn't work. I tried cooking 2 cups of steel cut oats in this cooker, and it boiled to the top leaving dried oatmeal on the top of the cooker as well as clogging up the steam release. I returned this cooker and decided to try this Comfee' Rice Cooker.I have had this rice cooker only a couple of days, but, so far, I am happy with the results. So far, I have made steel cut oats that I make in quantity for my husband and I to warm for breakfast. I put steel cut oats, water, cinnamon, brown sugar, and a little vanilla in the pot. The cereal came out perfect using the brown rice setting. I will explain later in this review why I chose the brown rice setting. Tonight, I made brown rice pilaf. I used the sauté setting, melted butter, added and sautéed the onions, added brown basmati rice and garlic, added beef stock and seasonings, and chose the brown rice setting. The rice was perfectly cooked and fluffy. Even though the unit was on keep warm for 45 minutes, the rice was not crusted or burned on the bottom. With my Zojirushi rice cooker, I have to remove the pot from the cooker as soon as the rice is done or the rice at the bottom of the cooker is crusty.Although this rice cooker comes with only a basic pamphlet of user instructions, you can download a more comprehensive manual that includes few recipes. The following is a description of the cooker controls, what can be done with each, and how they can be used.COOKER CONTROLS:- STOP/KEEP WARMPress the Stop/Keep Warm button to stop the cooking process and to keep cooked food warm- ON/OFF/STARTPress the On/Off/Start button to turn the cooker on or off and to start the cooking process- DELAY TIMERPress the Delay Timer button to delay the start of the cooking process for up to 24 hours. Use the + and- buttons to adjust the length of time.- "-"Decrease time or temperature- "+"Increase time or temperature- TEMPPress the temp button to raise or lower the temperature, and then press "+" or "-" to adjust temperature. Can be used only with Sauté and DIY cooking functions.- TIMEPress the Time button to adjust the cooking time, and then press "+" or "-" to adjust cooking time. Can be used with the Slow Cook, Oatmeal, Chili, Pasta, Soup, Stew, Steam, Sauté, and DIY cooking functions.As for the cooking programs, I'm not sure that all of them would be useful as temperatures are not stated for any of them.- The 3 rice setting are pretty basic, Quick Rice cooks white rice in a shorter amount of time, White Rice cooks white and short grain rice, and Brown Rice cooks brown rice and long grained rice.- The Oatmeal function cooks traditional rolled oats and can use the delay timer to have oatmeal ready for breakfast. For steel cut oats, I used the Brown Rice setting that has the longer cook time required for steel cut oats.- Soup, Soup, and Stew functions provide a simmer at a low temperature, but the temperatures are not stated.- The Slow Cook function does not allow Hi and Low slow cooking. The temperature is set at 300 degrees that is equivalent to the Hi temperature on slow cookers. If you want to slow cook on a low temperature you could set the temperature to 190 degrees on the DIY function.- For the Sauté function, you have control over both time and temperature. This is one of my favorite features as it works to sauté onions and garlic for rice pilaf and risotto as well as for browning meats used in soups and stews.- For the Steam function, you have control over the time which is really all you need for steaming.- To change the cooking function or the time and temperature, press "stop" and then select the function, and time and temperature.I have pressure cookers and other multicookers that have multiple preprogrammed functions, and, honestly, I don't use them most of the time. For some foods, I think a slow simmer produces a better result than cooking with a pressure cooker. My primary purpose in buying this rice cooker was to have the sauté function for making rice pilaf and risotto. Happily, I have now found that this rice cooker does a better job of cooking rice than the expensive Zojirushi rice cooker I have. After hours of research and reading reviews, I have finally found a rice cooker that works for me. For me, use of this rice cooker is not complicated at all. It's pretty straight forward once you know how to operate it. The downloaded manual does help, but some of the operation is learned by trial and error.UPDATE 7/11/22:For those of you who like steel cut oats, which my husband and I prefer over rolled oats, this is my recipe for steel cut oats cooked in this rice cooker. This make 1 1/2 quarts that lasts my husband and I 4-5 days.- 1 1/2 cups steel cut oats- 4 cups water- 1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract- 1 tsp. cinnamon- 1 tbsp. brown sugar (I use coconut palm sugar)- 1/4 cup or more raisinsPlace everything in the rice cooker pot, stir, turn cooker on, select brown rice function, press start.To warm the oats for breakfast, put desired portion in a bowl, add a little milk, and microwave for about 1 minute on high. What could be easier?? I have used this rice cooker multiple times since I bought it, and, so far, I am very happy with it.UPDATE 09/30/2022:As mentioned previously, I have never been a fan of rolled oats. To me, cooked rolled oats always tasted pasty. My husband likes them so I made a batch for his breakfasts. I added all ingredients to the pot and used the oatmeal setting. Ingredients I used were:- 3 1/2 cups water- 2 cups rolled oats- 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract- 1 tsp. cinnamon- 1 tbsp. brown sugar (I used coconut palm sugar)- 1/4 cup raisins or more as desiredIt looked pretty good and tonight I decided to try it. I spooned some into a bowl, broke it up into smaller pieces, and added some milk. Then I warmed it in the microwave for one minute. WOW!! It was really good!! I guess it make a difference on how it is cooked. I will definitely be making rolled oats for breakfasts again.UPDATE 01/13/24:I have had this rice cooker for almost 2 year, and I still love it. I have experimented with a couple foods, and have come up with a couple of new recipes that come out perfect with this rice cooker. I have added cream of wheat to my husband's choices of breakfast cereal. This recipe is basically the same as the the rolled oats recipe mentioned previously except the water to cereal proportions. For cream of wheat, use 4 1/2 cups of water to 1 cup of farina.I now make our rice pilaf in this rice cooker. I use brown rice for the health value, but white rice can also be used. The only difference would be to select the white rice setting for white rice. You can also add vermicelli to this rice pilaf and need only to brown the vermicelli in butter before adding it to the other ingredients. I do this in the microwave, but it can also be done in the rice cooker. This rice pilaf make about 18 4 oz. servings. It freezes well and can be thawed and warmed in the microwave. This is the recipe for rice pilaf in this rice cooker.- 6 tbsp. butter- 1 large onion, diced- 3 cups long grain brown rice or brown basmati rice- 6 cloves garlic, finely minced- 2 tsp. fresh rosemary minced or 2/3 tsp. dried and finely chopped- 1 1/2 tsp. fresh thyme leaves or 1/2 tsp dried- 1 1/2 tsp Kosher salt or 1/2 tsp. table salt- 1/2 tsp. pepper- 6 cups chicken, homemade, or vegetable broth- 2 tsp. lemon juice, fresh or bottled- 2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce- 2-4 large bay leaves- 3/4 tsp. paprika- 4 tbsp. fresh parsley, finely chopped- 4 tbsp. shredded carrot1 - Heat rice cooker in sauté mode. When hot melt the butter.2 - Add onion to the pot and sauté until translucent.3 - Add the rice and cook, stirring constantly, until all of the rice is coated in butter.4 - Add the garlic and cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant.5 - Add rosemary, thyme, salt, pepper, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, bay leaves, and broth.6 - Close the pot and select the brown rice setting (white rice setting if using white rice).7 - After the cooking has completed, fluff the rice with an fork, add chopped parsley and carrot, and stir8 - Let sit a couple of minutes and serve.I freeze this rice pilaf in 8 ounce packages for two of us, and serve it with brochettes, fish filets, pepper steak, and so much more.I have had this rice cooker for almost 2 years, and use it quite often. I sold my Zojirushi rice cooker since I have been using only this one. If this rice cooker ever quits working, I would most definitely buy another one.I hope this review was helpful for you. I will update this review if my opinion changes.

I’ve had this Aroma rice cooker for a while now, and it’s been such a great help in the kitchen. It cooks rice perfectly every time—whether white or brown—and keeps it warm without drying it out. I also love that it can steam veggies or proteins while the rice cooks, which makes weeknight dinners quick and simple. The size is just right for my household, and the nonstick pot makes cleanup easy. For the price, it’s a reliable little multicooker that I find myself using often.

This rice cooker has been an excellent purchase. It cooks rice evenly and it always comes out perfect—fluffy and never sticky. It’s very easy to use and clean, plus it doesn’t take much space in the kitchen. Since I got it, making rice has been effortless. Highly recommended!