I bought this AROMA brand rice cooker to replace a larger vegetable steamer (by a different manufacturer) that had an attachment for cooking rice. I wanted to have a cooker that was primarily for rice, with the option to steam vegetables and/or cook other foods, while being smaller when stored on the countertop, and easier to clean than my old one. Based on other Amazon reviews, I selected this one. Before I forget to write it, I think it is important to point out that this cooker is rated for 8 cups of COOKED rice, NOT 8 cups of uncooked rice. The usual ratio for regular white rice is 1:2, meaning that if you put in 1 cup of uncooked rice, you will have 2 cups of cooked rice when done. So with this product you can put in a maximum of 4 cups of uncooked rice, and will end up with a maximum of 8 cups of cooked rice. It is also important to note that if you choose to use the optional (included) vegetable steamer/food cooker tray, this fits inside the rice cooker pot and therefore takes up some of the space in that pot; you can cook rice AND steam vegetables/cook food simultaneously, but you cannot fit the full measure of rice when doing so. In my estimate, if you put in a cup or two of uncooked rice, the vegetable steamer/food cooker tray holds about enough to feed two people when combined with the rice. It is certainly not large enough to simultaneously cook rice and other food in quantities for a family; AROMA makes a similar product with a larger capacity if you need it. I shopped in several stores (Sears, Bed Bath & Beyond, Target, Macy's) before buying this cooker. They all carried electric rice cookers, but none had this product. Sears has AROMA products, but only in a less expensive non-digital version, while BB&B had a similar cooker by West Bend that did not look as good in terms of quality. But the majority of places I looked carried only non-digital rice cookers. I mention this because I think the digital ones have a couple of advantages that are significant enough to comment on: - The cooker is not simply based on cooking time; there is some sort of measurement going on that assures properly cooked rice. - The cooker can be programmed to start cooking while you are away, so that the rice (or other food) will be ready when you want to eat it. - The cooker automatically goes into a 'keep warm' mode once cooking is done, and will work well in this regard for at least a few hours. This cooker includes the following: - Cooker itself (included the digital controller and the heating element) - Teflon coated (non-stick) rice cooker pot - Plastic vegetable steamer/food cooker tray - Plastic stirring spatula (used once rice is cooked) - Clear plastic measuring cup (1 cup capacity) - Users manual - Quick start guide - Rice recipes Basic rice cooking goes like this: - Measure uncooked rice, using included cup or any other measuring cup - Pour rice into pot - If cooking white rice, pour in some water, stir with included spatula (or wooden spoon, etc), drain water (this optional step helps rinse away excess starch) - Add water to pot (which already contains rice) until water level reaches measuring mark on inside of pot that corresponds with amount of rice - Close cooker lid - Press POWER button - Press either the WHITE RICE or BROWN RICE button - Cooking starts, and is monitored by the digital controller; display shows rotating LED pattern, 'Cooking' LED illuminates - When digital controller estimates that about 12 minutes remain, display stops rotating pattern and starts showing count down minutes until done - Cooker beeps loudly for a few seconds, automatically enters KEEP WARM mode, 'Keep Warm' LED illuminates - When ready to eat, press POWER button twice to turn cooker off, open lid and remove pot - Stir cooked in pot using included spatula (or wooden spoon, etc) The manual includes a chart for estimating cooking time, but in general white rice takes 20-30 minutes, and brown rice takes twice that time. I have done small and large batches of both white rice, brown rice, and also a batch of wild rice, and all came out perfectly, properly cooked but not mushy. White rice had a nice level of stickiness of the sort that lends itself to eating with chopsticks, but without being TOO sticky, so you can easily break it up by stirring more with the spatula. In my tests, I always used the recommended water amount (i.e. I filled the pot to the measurement line that matched the amount of uncooked rice I put in), EXCEPT for the wild rice; the cooker does not have a setting for wild rice, so I followed the instructions on the rice bag, putting in 1-3/4 cup of water for each cup of uncooked rice, and then using the BROWN RICE mode on the cooker. I have not used the optional vegetable steamer/food cooker tray, so I cannot comment on that very much. But the manual includes extra steps for setting up cooking in the tray only (i.e. no rice cooking), as well as simultaneous cooking of rice and other foods. There are ways to specify time values that apply to the foods in the optional tray, so the cooker is not going only on its normal method for rice-only cooking. Besides using the product for cooking rice, and other things in the optional tray, it can be used as a sort of 'crock pot' for heating soups, chili, stews, etc. In this case, you just put the food to be heated into the pot directly and select the WHITE RICE mode. The food will be heated and then the cooker will keep it warm until you are ready to eat it. I tested this using a can of chili, and it worked well. This use of the cooker is mostly useful if you want to program it to start cooking while you are away, with cooking completed soon before you ARE ready to eat, OR to keep the food warm if you are uncertain about when you will be ready to eat. The pot is easy to clean. Since neither water or food are ever put into the body of the cooker, there should rarely be any need to clean it, other than wiping the inside of the lid in case any food splashed up onto it during cooking. The quality of this product seems very good. Nothing feels cheap. My only quibbles are that the power cord is quite short (obviously intended for use on a counter top, whereas I prefer to use it on a table that is further from the nearest outlet), and the 'control panel' area is quite reflective, and sometimes I have to view from different angles in order to read the buttons and/or the display and other LEDs.
