How do you choose the right rice cooker to last a lifetime? You'll need to pinpoint your personal cooking habits and preferences.

1. Identify your Size Requirements

Firstly, understand how many cups of rice - the standardized cup that comes with rice cookers - you will cook on a daily basis, not on occasions when you have guests over (more on that later). This is important because rice cookers come in various sizes. A 3-cup rice cooker is the smallest capacity common for major brands such as Panasonic, Tiger, and Zojirushi to carry. The next common size up is a 5-cup and the biggest size (for household use) is 10 cups. For some brands, there are 4-cups and 8-cups available. Each cup of raw rice will yield two bowls of cooked rice:

5-cup rice cooker = yields up to 10-bowls of cooked rice

10-cup rice cooker = yields up to 20-bowls of cooked rice.

So here's our first tip. If you only cook about 1-2 cups of rice daily, a 3-cup rice cooker would be the most suitable size for you. If you cook around 2-5 cups of rice, a 5-cup cooker would be most suitable. And finally, if you cook any more than 5 cups, then a 10-cup cooker would be most suitable. 

A common concern that we often hear in the store is, "what if we have guests over"? If you have guests over and you frequently have guests over, consider buying a slightly larger capacity rice cooker. Why shouldn't you buy a larger rice cooker which is much larger (ex. 10-cup) for when you have guests over? Well, you could buy a much larger rice cooker, but because you would not cook that much daily, it would damage the inner pot of the rice cooker and shorten its lifespan. Furthermore, if you only cook a small amount of rice in a large rice cooker, the heat will not be evenly distributed and the rice will not come out as well.

We can give you more advice on How to Choose Rice Cooker Size, just contact us!

2. Choose your desired rice cooker types and features

A second cooking practice that you have to be aware of is the kind of rice you usually cook, and the features you need for your rice cooker. There are four kinds of rice cookers: traditional, jar-o-mat, micro-computerized, and induction heated (IH). 

Traditional Type

• User-friendly and fast, auto-adjusts to "keep warm".
• One-touch button for plain white rice.
• Single heating element at the bottom produces crust on cooked rice.
• Glass or plastic lid partially seals in heat.

Jar-o-mat Type

• User-friendly and fast, auto-adjusts to "keep warm".
• One-touch button for plain white rice.
• Multiple heating elements on bottom, sides, and sometimes lid for even cooking and no crust on cooked rice.
• Hinged lid and rubber gasket seal in heat.

Micro-computerized

• Uses 'Fuzzy Logic' to warm your rice before cooking it, cook it at varying temperatures during the heating cycle, and then warm the rice before it is ready leading to fluffier, better-tasting rice.
• Approx. 50 min cooking time - in a rush, you can override the fuzzy logic function with a 'quick cook' function, to make your multi-function rice cooker cook like a jar-o-mat rice cooker.
• Features include a brown rice cooking function, which cooks with a different temperature, and amount of water and time, porridge cooking function, slow cooking function, and steaming function.

Induction Heating (IH)

• The IH rice cooker uses electromagnetic power to heat up the internal pot itself. This type of rice cooker is the most advanced, heating the fastest and most evenly.
• While the most expensive rice cooker option, it produces the fluffiest, best-tasting rice.

All computerized rice cookers come with a timer that allows you to preset a cooking time for when you want your rice to be cooked and ready. Some models will have a count-down timer, so you would enter how many hours you would want to eat your rice. Other models have a built-in clock, and you set what time you want to eat your rice. For example, if you first have the rice and water ready inside your rice cooker, plug it in, and set it to 7:00 pm, the rice cooker will turn on to automatic mode and the rice will be cooked and ready to serve at 7:00 pm. If you work during the day and do not want to wait for the rice cooker when you get home, this feature can save you a lot of time.Contact us to get more news.

Some brands and models of computerized rice cookers also have features for cooking sweet rice, rinse-free rice, sushi rice, and even baking cakes. This brings us to our second tip - if you never cook brown rice, sweet rice, porridge, and don't need a timer, you would probably be happy with a jar-o-mat rice cooker. If you don't cook rice very often and are not picky about the quality of your cooked rice, a traditional rice cooker may suit you. However, if you value special functions and would find a timer useful, then we recommend a micro-computerized or IH rice cooker. 

3. Understand the differences of inner pots

The inner pot of your rice cooker will not just determine the fluffiness and taste of your rice, but also the speed at which your rice will cook. Figure out what you value in inner pot types: Non-stick, stainless steel, and ceramic.

（1）Non-stick

Easy to clean

Uses non-stick coating

Will need replacement upon damage and scratches

（2）Stainless Steel

Scratch-resistant and dishwasher safe

Difficult to clean as rice sticks to inner pot

Cooking may be uneven

（3）Ceramic

Easy to clean

Non-stick with no coating

Heavy inner pot, breakable material