Saveur ·
The Best Rice Cookers Are Worth the Counter Space
Despite considering rice one of the four essential food groups (along with noodles, dumplings, and bread), I always poo-pooed rice cookers as space-hogging unitaskers. I now regret this. The best rice cookers are not only time-savers, but they’re foolproof rice-making workhorses that take the possibility of scorched rice out of the equation.
Best Value: Cuckoo CR-0671v
Why we chose it: Simple, cute, and affordable, this made rice nearly as well as cookers that cost five times as much.
One step up from the simplest ones, this very cute machine does basically a single thing — cook rice — but does it quite well (okay, it does have the indispensable instant warm function, too). The grains were just a smidge stickier than those of our winner, but for everyday purposes, they were excellent, and we found it made rice with a more consistent texture throughout the pot than similar models. The savings do mean forgoing all the fancy modes, but if making good rice is a priority, this model works well — and looks good doing it.