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What to Look for When Choosing a Rice Cooker

Here are some hints and tips on some of the things to consider when choosing and buying a rice cooker:

Size and Style

There are many rice cookers on the market, and whilst most are silver, some come in white or other colours. Some are square in design, whereas others have rounded curves, and lids may be see-through or have a special lock-down mechanism.

Settings

Rice cookers usually include functions such as cook, warm, steam and delay start. Rice cooker displays range from simple indicator lights to touch pad controls and digital displays. Decide what you want from your rice cooker before you buy one and keep these requirements in mind when comparing different models.

Capacity

You should also have a clear idea of the capacity you are looking for in a rice cooker. Some people will be cooking for just themselves or maybe for two people, whereas others have a family to feed. Small rice cookers can hold 3 cups of rice whereas larger models which allow you to cook up to ten or twenty cups. Professional rice cookers have much larger capacities than their domestic counterparts.

Viewing Lids

A glass viewing lid allows you to check on the rice as it cooks without having to keep lifting the lid. This enables you to avoid letting the steam fill the room or scald you. A lot of rice cookers have these glass lids but viewing windows are not a universal feature in all rice cookers, so it may be worth keeping this in mind when choosing which model to buy.

Rice and More

Rice cookers obviously cook rice and basic rice cookers can also be used for some other foods such as pasta. However, you can also buy models which carry out other functions, such as a 3 in 1 rice cooker. This will allow you to steam vegetables and to cook casseroles and other meals by using the appliance as a slow cooker.

Other Features to look for when choosing a Rice Cooker

• All rice cookers are easy to use and clean, but rice cookers with a removable bowl make the job much quicker. Just lift the bowl out, give it a wash and you are done. You will find that most rice cooker bowls are dishwasher-safe too. Non-stick bowls are standard, but always read the product description before buying to be sure.
• Some rice cookers have little extras such as non-slip feet, which are a nice safety feature.
• Make sure the model you are considering has safe cool to the touch sides and/or lid handles.

Extras

You will find that quite a few of the rice cookers on the market today come with accessories such as measuring cups, spatulas and baskets, depending on the make and model.

Recipe books are often included too, giving you some great meal ideas to try out with your new rice cooker.

Further Information

You can find out more about some of the top models of rice cooker available on the market on our Top Rice Cooker Models page.

If you want to buy a rice cooker, you can find out more about some of the top online rice cooker suppliers including details of their delivery times and postage and packaging costs in our Where to Buy section.

You can learn more about other types of cooking appliance in our Types of Cooking Appliance section.

You can find out about specific cooking appliance manufacturers and brands in our Brands of Cooking Appliance section.