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Best Cheap Rice Cookers - Rice Cooker Reviews
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Cheap Rice Cookers Buying Guide
The increasing popularity of rice cookers means more choices for thrifty consumers. For the best rice cooker at the most affordable price, look to brands like Aroma, Panasonic, Sanyo, and Zojirushi, which dominate the lower end of the market. These budget models are consistently rated among the highest in rice cookers reviews by users and often outscore more expensive models.
The rice cooker market ranges across a wide price spectrum, from a low of $15 to a high that surpasses $450. This might seem odd for a small appliance that cooks a simple starch, but in fact the market is divided into two distinct categories: manual rice cookers (sometimes called on/off or one-off cookers) and fuzzy-logic rice cookers (sometimes called computerized or programmable rice cookers). The manual rice cookers sit at the cheaper end of the price range, feature only basic settings, and perform one simple task. The fuzzy-logic rice cookers cost more but come with pre-programmed settings, flexible timer options, digital read outs, and sleeker design; not incidentally, they cook a lot more foodstuffs besides rice.
Within these two rice cooker camps good bargains can be found. There are cheap rice cookers that perform just as well or better than the up-market versions and also offer some of the popular features. Read on to learn which rice cooker is best for you.
Back to top »What to Look for: Cheap Rice Cookers Features
Cheap Rice Cookers Type.
As noted above, there are manual and fuzzy-logic rice cookers. Cheap manual rice cookers come with the most basic of settings, including "cook" and "off", and usually, some variation of "keep-warm". Some of the low-cost manual rice cookers, such as the Panasonic SR-G06FG (starting at $25, Amazon
), Zojirushi NHS-10 (starting at $50, Amazon
), Oster 4722 Rice Cooker (starting at $18, Amazon
), and Black & Decker RC436 (starting at $24, Amazon
), feature a few extras, such as auto-warm switches and steamer trays, but budget manual rice cookers aren't about bells and whistles. Rather, they are meant to perform one job only: make good rice on demand consistently with minimal or no supervision. Because manual rice cookers aren't designed to be multi-taskers like fuzzy-logic cookers, they are the most budget-friendly choice.
If you want a small kitchen appliance that can manage diverse cooking chores, from producing stews and making cakes to handling an assortment of rice varieties without your fussing over the pot, then fuzzy-logic cookers are the way to go. Because of their relative versatility, these cookers usually cost more than manual rice cookers. The good news is that even less-expensive fuzzy-logic rice cookers have sought-after features, so you won't have to pay a lot to get a lot. Top marks for fuzzy-logic cookers go to the
Sanyo Micom ECJ-D55S (starting at $90, Amazon
Cheap Rice Cookers Size.
Rice cookers are measured in cup size, starting at three cups and climbing up to at least 30. Frugal consumers looking for a cheap rice cooker for home use probably don't need one larger than 10 cups, however, and a single person or a couple probably don't need the same size as someone who cooks for a larger family or entertains a great deal. Among manual models, the Panasonic SR-G06FG is a 3.3-cup rice cooker and Zojirushi offers the 6-cup NHS-10. The Panasonic SR-DE102 is a five-cup fuzzy-logic model (starting at $90Amazon
) and the Sanyo Micom ECJ-D55S, another fuzzy-logic cooker, is about the same size. But even if you make smaller batches of rice most of the time, you may want the option of making larger quantities; the Zojirushi NHS-18 (starting at $60, Amazon
) handles up to 10 cups and the Oster Inspire Multi-Use 20-Cup Rice Cooker (starting at $40, Amazon
) manages double that. These newer and large-capacity units are designed to handle small amounts as well, so they may be worth considering even if you only need a cup or two at a time.
A word of caution: Comparisons of rice cooker capacity, be they one-off or programmable models, can sometimes be difficult. Manufacturer descriptions refer to the amount of cooked or uncooked rice, or sometimes, as in the case of the Aroma 6-Cup ARC-856 Rice Cooker (starting at $50, Amazon
Cheap Rice Cookers Timer/Settings.
The time-saving convenience of rice cookers is a key reason to buy one. So you may want to look for a model with two vital features: a timer and a keep-warm setting. These features let you set up the rice cooker the night before, and hours later, your rice is ready and waiting at optimal eating consistency and temperature. These features in tandem are not often found on older models or on the cheapest manual rice cookers, but the keep-warm setting, at least, is now relatively common on most on/off rice cookers that sell for less than $30, such as the Proctor-Silex 37533 5-Cup Rice Cooker (starting at $20, Amazon
) and the Rival 6-Cup Rice Cooker (starting at $17, Amazon
); the Panasonic SR-G06FG is one of the few budget manual rice cookers lacking this feature, although it automatically shuts off when the rice is done cooking. Several models by Aroma are equipped with both a timer and a keep-warm setting, including the Aroma ARC-838TC 16-Cup Digital Cool Touch Rice Cooker and Food Steamer (starting at $34, Amazon
). Most fuzzy-logic models, including the Sanyo Micom ECJ-D55S and Panasonic SR-DE102 Fuzzy-Logic 5-Cup, feature a clock and a timer that let you choose the start time at least 12 hours in advance. And just in case you need to be told when the rice (or whatever is in the pot) is finished, the Sanyo ECJ-D55S complies by emitting a little chime.
Cheap Rice Cookers Lids.
Nothing ruins rice like peeking under the lid, and a glass or see-through lid means you can check on progress without committing a cardinal cooking sin. In the past, the cheapest manual rice cookers generally had metal or some other kind of opaque lid but now glass lids or "see-through" windows are standard even on the most budget-friendly models, such as the Salton RA3A 3-Cup Rice Cooker (starting at $25, Amazon
), Aroma ARC-733G 3-Cup Pot-Style Rice Cooker and Steamer (starting at $16, Amazon
), Elite Gourmet 3 Cup Rice Cooker with Steamer (starting at $12, Amazon
), Rival 10-Cup Rice Cooker (starting at $20, Amazon
), as well as the Panasonic SR-G06FG 3-Cup.
You may notice that fuzzy-logic cookers are more likely to have solid lids made of plastic or, as is the case with the Sanyo Micom ECJ-D55S 5.5 Cup, plastic with stainless steel accents. These lids might occasionally contain a viewing window, but these more technologically advanced models are designed to adjust themselves during the cooking process and recognize with more precision when the rice is ready, so there is less need to keep an eye on things.
Bargain Rice Cookers Safety Features.
Some rice cookers, such as the Cuisinart CRC-400 4-Cup Rice Cooker (starting at $40, Amazon
), lack an on/off switch and must be unplugged to be turned off. Aside from being an inconvenience, this design can be a hazard because the unit has no mechanism for shutting down if it starts to overheat. There are plenty of budget rice cookers, including the manual Panasonic SR-G06FG and the fuzzy-logic Aroma 6-Cup ARC-856 (starting at $60, Amazon), with an on/off switch as well as automatic shut off, which also keeps food from scorching. The Sunpentown 6 Cups Rice Cooker (starting at $39, Amazon
) actually has a thermal fuse, which automatically shuts off the cooker if it gets too hot before the end of the cooking cycle.
As an aside, the Sunpentown also features a retractable cord, as do several new models from Cuisinart, such as the 4-Cup Rice Cooker CRC-400 (starting at $50, Amazon
Nonstick cooking chambers are common on rice cookers and a feature of all the budget manual and inexpensive fuzzy logic models on our recommended list. But some consumers cite health concerns as a reason for preferring rice cookers without a chemically-coated surface. These fears have been somewhat allayed by research that has not shown nonstick cookware to be a major path of transmission of PFOA, the chemical at issue, to humans. Still, the Environmental Protection Agency is pushing American companies, including DuPont, which makes Teflon-brand nonstick cookware, to begin eliminating PFOA from their products by 2015. If you're concerned about the health implications of nonstick surfaces, your choices are limited; both the on/off Salton RA3A and Aroma ARC-733G have an aluminum cooking chamber.
Back to top »What to Expect: Budget Rice Cookers Performance
Cheap Rice Cookers Results.
Any decent rice cooker -- regardless of price -- should produce good white rice. But owning a budget rice cooker needn't mean limiting your palate to just the standard white variety. Users posting budget rice cookers reviews on Epinions, for example, have filled the one-off Panasonic SR-G06FG with flavored rice (the kind that comes in a box with flavor/spice packets) and are well pleased with the results. Amazon users write in their rice cooker reviews about using the low-cost Panasonic rice cooker for white, brown, and wild rice, as well as quinoa, and suggest adding a dab of oil or butter to prevent boiling over and an extra 1/4 cup of water for brown rice. The nonstick surface of the on/off Zojirushi NHS-10 6-Cup model ensures no waste, comments one consumer on Cooking.com, and another posting a rice cooker review on the site recommends adding a bit more water than the instructions call for to ensure the best results. Likewise, Zojirushi users posting on Amazon note that this cheap rice cooker neatly handles specialty rice, and several offer suggestions about water/rice ratios for the best outcome. Just remember to fluff the rice if you don't consume it right away, warn many users, otherwise the rice may brown and stick on the bottom.Fuzzy-logic rice cookers, such as the Sanyo Micom ECJ-D55 5.5-Cup model, have robust setting menus for many types of rice, as well as a slow-cook mode that can be used for porridge, soups, and stews. Although users of the Sanyo ECJ-D55 note on Mommiesmagazine.com that rice takes twice as long to cook as in on/off models, they don't seem to mind; one raves about the 'fabulous' results, another says the family now eats more rice-based meals, and a third wakes up to perfectly cooked steel-cut oats. A sibling of the Panasonic SR-G06FG, the ECJ-S35 (starting at $95, Amazon
Cheap Rice Cookers Clean Up
. The cooking chamber of most budget one-off and fuzzy-logic rice cookers has a non-stick surface. Some of the very cheapest models, such as the Aroma ARC-733G 3-Cup Rice Cooker and the Salton RA3A 3-Cup Rice Cooker, however, have aluminum inner chambers that make for tougher clean up and increase the chances of burned or overly sticky rice, say users on Amazon and Epinions; users also complain that hot starchy water boils over and out of the Salton RA3A and note that the Aroma's cooking chamber is not dishwasher safe. With non-stick surfaces so widely available, and featured in the four models we recommend, go for an affordable nonstick model if you're not anxious about the health issue discussed above. Consumers who have nonstick rice cookers almost uniformly say clean up is a breeze.Cheap Rice Cookers Lifespan.
Both Zojirushi and Panasonic models are frequently praised by users for their long lifespan, as in this budget rice cooker review of the Zojirushi NHS-10 on Amazon. The Salton RA3A 3-Cup Rice Cooker, on the other hand, was panned by users posting rice cooker reviews on Amazon and Epinions for breakdowns after only a few uses. Back to top »
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Products Mentioned in This Review
The Salton RA3A 3-Cup Rice CookerAroma ARC-733G 3-Cup Pot-Style Rice Cooker and Steamer
Zojirushi NHS-10 6 Cup Rice Cooker
Aroma 6-Cup ARC-856 Rice Cooker
Panasonic SR-G06FG 3.3 Cup Rice Cooker/Steamer
Sanyo Micom ECJ-D55S 5.5 Cup
