Side by Side Comparison of: Aroma vs Black & Decker

I'm not one for writing reviews but after almost being dissuaded from purchasing this product by reading a slew of dumb reviews (like who decides to bake a potato in a rice cooker or who is confused at reading the simple instructions?) I decided to write one in the hopes that you will find this and this will help you make a decision whether to purchase or to not.

I'm a simple guy who is terrible at cooking rice and has to feed a family of 6 regularly (not including the occasional guest that pops in unexpectedly). This rice cooker is awesome and I question why I waited so long to buy one. Sure, you could get a better one by dropping a couple hundred bucks on a fancy model but for what this does, it does it well. It takes about 35 minutes to cook rice for that many people. Yes, you can cook it faster by doing it the old fashioned way, but I find it very convenient to put the rice on first and just forget about it while I'm cooking the rest of the food. It makes juggling the stove much easier and frees up a burner slot so I could cook something else instead of micro-managing rice. The cup provided with the rice cooker is 3/4 the size of a regular cup of rice but even still one cup per person is more than enough.

Put your rice in in and then fill the conveniently marked bowel with water up to the number of cups you used. For example, place 6 cups of rice and then fill with water up to the "6" marked line on the inside of the bowel. Easy-peasy. You DO have to rinse your rice off before you start the cooker to get rid of extra starch but this process only takes a minute or less and you don't need special tools or anything. I just put in the rice, add a bit of water, swirl it around, carefully drain the water out (the water will turn milky white), and literally rinse and repeat until the water is more or less clear upon draining. The rice comes out fluffy and great with nothing burned on the bottom of the pot.

I've also cooked other things in the rice cooker as well like a beef stew and chili. Each time I cut up the meat, tossed it in, chopped up veggies, added water and spices, closed the lid and hit the "slow cooker" option. It says it will take 7 hours but a pot roast (cut into 3-5 inch cubes) only took about 4 hours to cook and the meat was just falling apart. SO GOOOOD!

The instructions are simple and whenever you use this rice cooker please use the cup provided for easy measuring. Other than that it was worked great, cleans super easy, easy to operate, and does what it's supposed to do. You won't be disappointed. Hope this review helps! Also, feel free to ask me some questions if you have any. I'm no scientist but I might be able to help as well.

This really is a gem of an appliance. Have used it every day for the past week. Will taper off, but it is simple and rice is a nice partial addition to m diet. But don't get into this the way I did. I started down the steam path a year ago when I purchased an egg steamer for hard-boiled, soft-boiled chicken nuggets. I grew to like steamed food pretty quickly. Fast and helps cut a few oily fats. So next, I purchased a separate veggie steamer. Another great product, but it didn't do rice. By the time I realized I really wanted rice and veggies most of the time, and eggs less frequently, I purchased the Aroma 20 cup. It's perfect. Took a few tries to figure out 1 cup of rice in the lingo is actually 3/4 cup, but all has been fine ever since. Sometime in the near future I will toss or rehome an old slow cooker, and the veggie steamer, while keeping the egg steamer. New ways to cook, and they really save time and improve on the quality of the stuff that passes my lips.

This thing is a great low-to-medium volume rice cooker. It does exactly the same thing every time so long as you follow the instructions. It also has great details in the design with regards to function - the removable inside lid and condensation collector come to mind.

There are better rice cookers, but not at this price point.

First of all - WOW! I've never owned a rice cooker, I've always just cooked it on the stove top. I have also never owned a steamer. This is now my best friend - it is so easy to use and makes incredibly good tasting food. I have a 3 year old who really is not into veggies except corn and carrots, so I literally use this thing EVERY SINGLE DAY. It automatically knows how long to cook the rice for, all you have to do is specify if it is brown or white rice. It steams your veggies AND CAN COOK RICE AT THE SAME TIME. And the best part - YOU CAN EVEN USE IT AS A SLOW COOKER! I broke up with my old slow cooker as soon as I received this one - it is literally 3 products in one, a steamer, a rice cooker, and a slow cooker. It is by far the best kitchen appliance I have ever had in my life. My fiancé grew up eating rice all the time, and he still loves it quite a few times a week. So, in the few weeks that I have had this product, I have gotten so much use out of it! This is how I make the rice, and it is so incredibly simple:
Step 1: Plug it in
Step 2: Add a few cups of the rice (with the cup that was included!)
Step 3: Fill water up to the line that corresponds with how many cups of rice you put in.
Step 4: Press the "white rice" or "brown rice" button.
Step 5: Sit back, relax, and wait for it to beep!
thats literally it! It is so easy to use, and so user friendly! As for steaming veggies, you literally put some water in the bottom, put the veggies on the steam tray, and hit the "steam" button. It does ALLLLL of the work for you!
This product has seriously changed my life. Making dinner is not as annoying as it used to be. I truly love feeding my family and I love that this product has helped me to do so. I love that the rice and veggies practically cooks itself while I can focus on the main dish.
My whole kitchen is stainless steel and black, so this item fits in really well with everything else. It is not too big, but not too small, and looks really nice on my counter when I am using it.
It came with a rice server and a cup, as well as a steamer tray and an inner pot.
I expect to get a ton of life out of this product.
Anyways, I hope that my review has helped you, I hope that you purchase this product, and I hope that you love it just as much as me and my family do!

Was skeptical at first but truly pleased with my purchase. Stopped cooking rice after years of it sticking to the pan or coming out over done or undercooked. Healthier eating brought on less bulky pastas and wanted to try to incorporate more rice into our meals. Also, since this appliance is not only a rice cooker but also acts as a crock pot and veggie steamer as well...it's easy on the pocketbook as well as the counter space. Reviews were kinda half and half with many saying that they either couldn't figure it out (hard to follow directions) or the rice was not coming out well when they used it. After using this for two-three months now, I'd have to say that either those people are either not understanding the directions (which are very easy in my opinion to follow) or it's simply operator error. I LOVE my rice cooker. I can set it and leave it (unlike the pan on the stove) and it's come out perfect every time!

Extras:
1. The wide spoon that is included for the rice is wonderful and stores inside the cooker when not in use.
2. The cup included has measurements on the side, stores inside cooker while not in use.
3. The inside metal bowl of the cooker is easy to clean (literally a damp cloth will do ya-nothing sticks, burns etc!), removes for easy cleaning without worries of water damage to unit AND has measurements on inside of bowl so you know you're getting the right amount of water and rice evertime! Takes the guess work out.
4. Manual is very easy to read. Separated into sections "Cooking Rice", "Steaming veggies while cooking rice" etc etc. Has a handy insert that is removable with "Quick cooking tips" for amounts to use and hangs on my fridge for quick referencing.
5. Steamer tray is removable, stores in unit when not in use and gives ample space. I can usually fit two 10-12oz frozen veggie bags in it with a bit of room to spare. This tray does seem to take on some of the color of the more colored veggies (such as carrots with an orangish tint) but otherwise not a huge deal. Easy clean up.

Only Downside that I can think of:
The cord for this unit is somewhat shorter than my usual appliances. However, this also means that I can bring it up through the handle once, and have it dangle while not in use-rather than have a wad of cord flopping around the cabinet too. So, take that as you will.

I added photos for better viewing-since seller does not post for much to see. This was one of my biggest issues when comparing these to other brands/models. I wanted to see inside and how it all comes together or comes apart. So, I'm hoping this helps someone out. Coffee can in photos is a large coffee can from Sams club-for size comparison.

One thing to note, the lid on this unit does NOT come off completely. It is attached by a hinge on one side. Grab onto handle, push in large button with thumb to release door and it opens easily (light weight lid also). Lid does stay open without dropping down hard when ready to serve rice OR metal bowl can be removed during serving.

Bottom Line: WORTH THE MONEY! Great price, excellent rice-every time! Takes the hassle out of multiple pans, can be used for full meal dishes (crock pot type use) & veggie or food steamer tray. Would definitely recommend this to anyone.

Great little rice cooker. Quick, easy, and makes the rice perfect every time. My only suggestion would be to unplug it after it clicks over from cooking to warming. Otherwise, you may get some burned rice on the bottom of the pan.

This rice cooker makes really great rice and keeps it warm.This rice cooker does more than free up a burner. It cooks without burning the rice and keeps it warm. The only downside is its propensity to splatter hot water on the counter (when cooking brown rice). It's similar to the experience of cooking on the stove, actually - where you have to watch the water with the rice to make sure it doesn't start foaming and bubbling over. A rice cooker should be different so you don't have to pop the lid every so often to prevent a soaked counter and floor... and it's not just water - it's starchy water, so it has to be thoroughly cleaned up so you don't end up with a sticky, bug-attracting mess later.Overall this product is great because I am a college student and quick easy meals are helpful!

This is an incredible little machine which I love so much ! It cooks rice effortlessly. I just wash the rice, pour it into the cooker, and return back in 20 minutes. When the rice is cooked, it automatically switches to "keep warm mode." There are indications inside the rice cooker with how much rice and water to put. The added steamer allows me to cook broccoli and cauliflower to eat along with my rice as well! It's small and doesn't take up a lot of energy, so I do intend to bring it abroad with me and just placed an adapter on the plug. Overall, really satisfied with this stunningly inexpensive item !

This is one of those products that make me ask each time I use it: "why did I wait so long before purchasing one of these!"I been cooking rice for over 20 years and just the same its still more an art than a science on the stove top. That is until I got this baby..It is quick, efficient, virtually noiseless, and best of all, as long as you do two parts water to one part rice, you will end up with flawless rice.I heard the phrase, "nothing to write mom home about."Well guess what:This is definitely something worth writing mom home about.And why stop there?I now have used this little cooker to heat up soups. I open the can up and toss its contents in and switch it on for about three minutes, just to when its starts to boil.Then I lift the pot gently out using an oven mitt which causes the unit to shut off.Better tasting in my opinion than the microbe wave and just more homely tasting with no scattered surprising random cold spots.

For those of us who have issues with rice boiling over in the microwave, and have it burn on the stove-- this thing is fantastic.Got it in the mail this morning and tested it out on some long grain rice; it did not boil over when loaded with 3 cups of rice (uncooked). Note that you need to use the included measure and not your own measuring cup to keep it from boiling over. The rice did not burn or brown on the bottom; it was all white and fluffy.The inside of the inner bowl is nonstick, and the coating seems to work well- I had no problems cleaning it.Overall, it's nicely made, and it works really well. There are instructions for how to cook veggies and fish in it, too, though I've not tested them yet.This is perfect for college/grad students with an apartment of their own and relatively little time, since it's a set-and-forget kind of tool.

My husband loves rice and this cooker works really well. The proper amount of water must be used because there is a sensor that measures moisture and turns the cooker to warm when ready. The rice should be stirred when it switches to warm to prevent sticking and scorching if your are not quite ready to eat. It only takes 20 minutes to cook enough rice for 2 full cups of cooked rice. Personally , I have not used it. My husband tells me about every times he uses it. :)

I bought one of this 2 years ago and until now still working, I got this new one for my friend and she likes it. Good for cooking rice, and as a steamer, you can use it to steam vegetables or cook something good that needs to be steamed. The price now is cheaper than 2 years ago, it is now half price than it was before I remember I paid 2 years ago for $60.

Ok so I've had this brand before but I have a smaller one for like 2 people. My boyfriend wanted a larger rice cooker so he can make larger quantities so he doesn't have to cook as often. There was nothing wrong with the smaller rice cooker from this brand. The only thing I didn't like with this larger one was it didn't have that connecting top piece when you open the lid. I like to cook quinoa so little bits of the quinoa would be stuck to the top lid and you would have to wipe it off with a rag. But with the smaller rice cooker and most other rice cookers I've had had the detachable piece on the lid to make cleaning easy just by removing and rinsing the piece. Also this rice cooker cooks a little differently, I have to use less water for the rice so it doesn't come out mushy.

So I love fried rice, but hate the mess it makes. You have to cook the rice, the fry it, but then I get yelled at for all the pans in the sink. I tried this for the first time, and the rice actually came out very flaky and evenly cooked. Its actually very simple to use, but since I never really used one before, I will have to experiment with what and when to ad ingredients so they don't come out mushy. The reason for the one star is that I did have some burning of the rice on the bottom. This was even after I stirred it a few times during cooking, but still came out better than anytime I have made it on the stove. All in all, it is very simple to use, and super easy to clean up. Once I get the hang of it, I will be using it all the time.

After reviewing many different rice cookers the Aroma ARC-15SB was the choice. No regrets. The only reason I can't give a full five stars is the surface of the cooking bowl was scratched when I received it. It was a semi-circular imperfection in the direct center of the bottom of the bowl where the coating was scratched to the bare metal. I should have called customer service to at least have given them a chance to make it right but my life was too hectic then and by the time I could have called I felt it wouldn't be right (nor should they have even believed me that I received damaged goods at that point). Nevertheless, the damage was large enough and prominent enough that it should have been caught by QC before packaging (it obviously was not packaging or shipping damage).

About me: I'm a work from home dad who is responsible for most of the meals and can cook mean ribs, chicken, steak, mashed potatoes, vegetables, pasta, etc. but I always fumbled the ball when it came to rice. I would follow the directions to a 'T' and make adjustments where directed but it was always clumpy, mushy, or a mixture of clumpy and crunchy. I had to do something.

Regarding the cooker:
We've had the cooker for about a year and I'd say we average 2 rice dishes a week and we have NEVER had a bad dish of rice the entire time. My family is so happy to have gone from eating wallpaper paste to easting authentic Asian cuisine! Claims of the foaming and overflowing water are just simply unfounded. The users are doing something incorrect. I have used all types of rice (short, long, brown, white, jasmine, bulk, etc.) and I have yet to have foaming or excessive water. My routine is to measure the rice into a strainer, rinse the rice with running water for about 30 secs, put rice and water in the cooker, and press the corresponding button to the type of rice. IT IS SO EASY!

And it isn't just for rice, I cook meat and steam vegetables along with a variety of other things.

I recommend the Aroma ARC-15SB to anyone who enjoys eating rice at home.

Love my rice cooker! I had a small cheap one but after a year it died so I decided to upgrade to something better. I love the idea of being able to use as a slow cooker too. I have made baked potatoes in it which turned out really good. I learned the hard way it needs liquid because it kept turning off. So I had balled up aluminum foil and put them on the bottom to keep the potatoes off the bottom and then added enough water to cover the bottom of the pot but completely kept the potatoes off the bottom. They cooked for 5 hours and they were so good. Very nice since I was using my crockpot at the same time, this made it so easy to have this going w/ potatoes.

My only complaint is I wish the lid flipped from the back, not sure if there is a reason for it. It isn't too big of a deal, just awkward. So I just turn it but it is odd getting into it and have a big hot lid right there. Even if it came off it would be even better.

Had this for a year now, works okay. Small, but okay for making rice for one or two people. Was missing the serving cup and spoon that it said it came with, but chose to keep it instead of returning the whole thing. Haven't had any issues making rice in it, use it a few times a week. I usually make long jasmine rice in this.

Likes:not having to worry about burning the rice, set it forget it it stays on warm until readyImprovements:since key to good rice is measurements, these instructions are hazy even for a someone with an advanced grad degree+ the measuring cup & inside the pot quantity indicators are damn close to invisibleAfter only one pot rice experiment, I followed the rice package instruction more than these hieroglyphics so not confident the outcome was as true blue to its design as intended ... WHY CAN'T THIS BE AS SIMPLE as advertised? Rice, water, push the cook button, then presto?Prime + price = satisfied & hoping a solution to the mix appears to make it all 1-2-3 simple in future.

We have had this rice cooker for 8 months and use it nearly daily for rice, amaranth, quinoa and brown rice. This is a small, cheap, lightweight cooker perfect for one or two people. The description is incorrect. It does not make 3-cups of dry rice without making a mess. For best results use 2/3 cup to 1 1/2 cups dry. ALWAYS rinse the rice/grain before placing in cooker. Some people have complained about burned rice on the bottom: We have had this happen when the bottom of the insert pot and/or element is damp. Even a drip of water under the insert pot causes problems. Just dry it all up thoroughly before using.We deducted a star because the vent lets out a lot of starchy steam, so we keep a tea towel spread out under it for quicker clean up. This cooker uses less counter space than most. Insert cleanup is quick, but lid cleanup is tougher. It's a good idea to rub a little oil into the bottom of the insert occasionally. You'll be able to tell when it needs it.It is an inexpensive cooker, so we have no expectations about it living a long time. If it does, that's great.

The capacity of this device is deceiving. It comes with a measuring cup that is 3/4 a cup and the instructions specifically tell you not to use a normal 1cup measuring cup to measure your rice and water, to only use the provided cup. This means the dry capacity is 2 and 1/4 cup, which is significantly less than 3 cups. It's annoying that everything on the box and instructions says it holds "about 3 cups", when the truth is it holds closer to 2 cups of dry rice.Other than that, this rice cooker performs well. It gave off a strong smell the first time I used it, but that smell has faded on it's own without additional cleaning. This cooker is perfect if you have a small kitchen and limited cabinet space. It will make enough rice to feed 4-5 people in one sitting, where the rice is a side dish, not the majority of your plate. Or it provides a couple servings of leftovers for 2 people.Based on the cheap price, I would definitely re-order this product.

This small and simple appliance makes perfect rice every time and easy to clean and maintain. Just add rice and water (or broth if you prefer), plug it in and wait until you hear the click that indicates that the rice is ready - 15-20 minutes depending on the type of rice you're using. The compact size is ideal for a single or couple. If you regularly need to cook much larger quantities of rice, this isn't the appliance for you.As others have noted, the description is misleading. The cooker will not accommodate 3 cups of dry rice. When the rice doubles during cooking it will surely overflow and make a giant mess in the kitchen. The included measuring cup is really just two-thirds of a cup. One measure of rice and two measures of rice is enough rice for 1-2 servings.

When i saw Black & Decker in Amazon for just 15 dollars and also the big-sized image, i was so excited to buy this. But when it came, it was surprisingly small.So i don't want anyone else to make the same mistake!!!...But it can hold rice for two people perfectly.Like all other cookers from the same brand, it does a very good job.The rice comes out perfectly and consistently well. But be careful not to leave it in warm mode for a long time.Rice becomes very dry, so you just need to unplug it when the rice is done and close the hole in the lid if you want to leave it like that for a little longer.Also it is very easy to clean and maintain.But be careful not to wet and use non-stick inner cooking pot in the rice cooker because it can get damaged easily.

We had a white Aroma that we gave away before we moved. That model no longer exists. We liked it a lot - felt very sturdy. This model looks great, but weights little, and when the lid is open it doesn't feel sturdy at all; it feels like the lid might just rip right off the pot at the hinge. Also, not sure if we have the vent installed correctly, but the upper vent on the lid is making a mess with gobs of white goo ooozing out of it when cooking. Not sure why that's happening. This model is fine. And for the money it's a wonder how they can make things this "good enough" for such a low price.

This is not a crock pot (slow cooker) they don't advertise that it is, but it gives that impression. Doesn't seem to cook on low enough temp for an 8-10hrs of cooking. So if pot isn't full... food ends up either almost boiling and cooking too fast.

Easy to use but really hard to clean - the lid doesn't remove, so no way to completely clean. Can only wipe down with soap and water, which doesn't clean well enough and seems to leave some odors behind. I have tried washing and scrubbing several times.
Would be nice to fully submerge in soapy water and/or run it throughout the dishwasher.

Makes a nice rice cooker. But if I knew how hard it was to clean I would not have purchased.

Update: we have a small household and usually cook only small amounts, about 1-2 cups of uncooked rice with a suitable amount of water. This rice cooker works fine for that, whether it's white, brown, short grain, long grain, wild/quinoa blend...no problem.

BUT, I have found that the rice comes out mushy when making large batches of most kinds of rice, no matter what setting I use. You might be able to work around that by using a smaller proportion of water when making large batches, but who wants to experiment? I do it the old fashioned way in a pot on the stove for large batches now, and of course that's not why you buy a rice cooker.

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I'm extremely pleased with this rice cooker. Once every few months I attend some kind of potluck or other gathering, and since I have a culinary background I'm often asked to bring a main dish. This makes it easy to make rice to accompany some chicken, ribs, or other offering, and holds enough to serve 20 people or so.

This one is fancier than my old rice cooker and has separate buttons for brown and white rice. After experimenting, I've determined you can just use the white rice button for brown rice - the end result seems identical but it's faster. Yes, I know brown rice is supposed to cook longer, but mine runs for about 90 minutes on the brown rice setting, and that's longer than necessary. You might want to experiment with this, but I've tried steel-cut oats, various brown and wild rice, blends of different grains, you name it and they all come out good.

I've used a friend's Zojirushi for comparison purposes, and while it looks cooler, it doesn't seem to make rice any better or worse. Hey, after all, it's rice...you can also cook it in a pot you bought at a garage sale for 50 cents, right?

I purchased this rice cooker to replace an older Aroma rice cooker. That model was a basic, entry-level rice cooker.

This model has an attractive stainless steel finish, but the lid feels cheaper and less sturdy than my other rice cooker. The settings and timer feature are great, but this rice cooker is slow.

It takes 51 minutes to cook 4 cups of (cooked) rice. My previous rice cooker could cook 16 (cooked) cups of rice in 20-25, It takes 25-30 minutes to steam broccoli with this rice cooker. My old one could do it in 5.

It doesn't make sense that this higher-model rice cooker is so much worse than my original rice cooker.

The spinning animation on the LCD display while it's cooking is interesting, but it becomes frustrating watching it wondering when the rice will be done. Has Aroma quality gone down? I would think all of their rice cookers in this range would have the same kind of heating element, but this one is twice as slow as my old one when cooking rice.

And one time when I cooked two and a half cups of (uncooked) rice, starchy water was bubbling out of the steam vent (?) The rice was nowhere near the top.

I do like the paddle holder on the side. My old one had a place to hook a paddle holder on it, but I lost it. This one is integrated, so you can't lose it. The design of the holder, however, means only rice paddles from Aroma are likely to fit in it.

My old one had a removable steam vent, so you could wash it. This one does not. It's integrated into the lid, and non-removable. My old one also had a removable power cord. This one does not.

I will be returning this, and looking for a better one.

I've only used it for brown rice so I can't speak to its abilities with white rice or quinoa yet but what I've seen so far with brown rice has not amazed me. While it is a set-it-and-forget-it type of appliance, which is nice, if the quality of the finished product isn't up to snuff then it's really no help.

First of all, we typically only eat brown rice and that's all I've cooked in it. Many reviews refer to 20-30 minute cook times but that is with white rice only. Brown rice is going to set you back upwards of 90 minutes...yes, an hour and half. I wouldn't even have a problem with it taking twice as long to make rice as it does in a pot...if it did it well.

Anyway, I've made about 6 batches, so far, and every one has had some degree of burning on the bottom. No, I have never let it sit in the warm setting after it's done for more than a minute or so either, so that's not the issue. With the first batch I made, I heard it go off and stirred it all up to absorb any residual moisture before serving. Unfortunately, this mixed all the burnt rice on the bottom of the cooker with the rest and we had to deal with periodic bites of crunchy burnt rice. Since then, I've learned to carefully "peel" off the layer of burnt rice prior to stirring it all together.

Since the first batch, I've experimented with various levels of water and have, most recently, added almost double the water to rice ratio (i.e. for 3 cups rice, fill with water to the 6 line). While the burning layer has decreased somewhat, now the consistency of the rest is suffering and comes out mushier than the initial batch. I don't know if the 90 minutes is still not low and slow enough but I'd gladly plan for 2 hours IF it meant it would come out right.

I'm going to continue to experiment with the ratios and hope the quality will improve. I will update with my results.

Bought this product a little over a year ago now. After having it for about a year it has stopped working. When it gets plugged in it doesn't turn on. It's been a great product til now. Just wish it would have lasted longer.

VERY slow rice cooker! not sure if mine is dysfunctional, but it takes a long time to cook even a cup of rice. not worth it to me.

I didn't have it for very long before it stopped working. When it was working, it worked well until it didn't.

I was mostly looking for this to be able to just put the ingredients in, set it and forget it. Maybe I was just expecting too much. It shuts off when its done cooking and goes to warm which is nice. I have used it about 5 times and every time the rice sticks and starts burning if I was not stirring it every few minutes though. I tried putting more water in each time to prevent that, but it hasn't helped. With that said, you might as well just use a pan and cook the rice on the stove, there is no difference. Product works though and cooks the rice thoroughly every time. Have a feeling mine will be on the shelves of Goodwill soon, as it's not worth taking up the space in the kitchen.

Okay, so here's the thing. It claims to hold 3 cups of dry rice and 6 cups cooked rice. WRONG. It comes with a little cup (I measured it out and it holds 2/3 of a cup) and it's THAT cup that is the portioning for this machine. So, it holds 3 uncooked "cups" of rice. So, I followed the rules and used that cup to cook the rice. I put in 3 dry cups and then 6 of the same cup of water. The rice was overflowing, got the lid all starchy, and was wetter than I expected the rice to be. The bottom of the rice had stuck to the non-stick basin and burned a little bit. Considering that this machine has an auto-function to switch to "keep warm" after the rice has cooked, I didn't expect to have burned rice in the bottom of the steamer. Needless to say, I'm a bit disappointed with this. But, I steamed some small sweet potatoes in this (as long as I found ones that would let the lid sit correctly) and it worked better than my old steamer. I haven't tried steaming salmon in it yet, I'm sure I'll edit this when I do and let you guys know how that turns out.In short, if you're a college student or buying this for a college student, it should suit them well. Even if they need to hide from their roommate and make rice in their room, it'll be perfect for them. This is a great one person meal making machine. If you have 2+ people you're trying to make rice for, use a pot.

I eat a lot of brown rice, which can be very time consuming to prepare (and expensive if you buy the instant kind) so I bought this product to make it easier. I read several reviews and this seemed to be pretty good. At first glance it worked pretty well. It's a pretty simple device, it basically cooks based on weight. You add rice (and whatever else) and water, and it presses down on the bowl to activate the on switch. It then continuously cooks at the same even temperature until all of the water is evaporated and it automatically shuts off. You have to be very precise with you measurements though. I found that if I just "set it and forget it" that the rice would be burned and starched on the bottom and very thick and gummy. It was pretty effective for brown rice, because it takes so much longer to cook. You can add the rice, seasoning and water and turn it on, and come back in 20 minutes and it still wouldn't be done - but close enough to it that you could stay to finish the process. But you need to stir it occassionally so setting and forgetting is a bad idea. I used it for about a month before I realized it wasn't saving me any time or hassle and tossed it.

ALWAYS BURNS. This rice cooker burns the rice almost every time. Multiple reviewers state they have the same issue. I've tried adding extra water, interrupting it to stir, and a million other things. The rice on the top is well cooked and done correctly, but I have to add like an extra half cup so that I can leave the burnt rice on the bottom and only eat the top rice.

Until I get another that is NOT damaged and has all of the parts, I'll stay with this rating.

Actually, I never fired all of this up. I went through the instructions about washing all the parts before first use. But, there was no condensation collector. Yes, it is supposed to have one since there are small notches in the recess below the hinge side of the lid. That is when I spotted a large dent in the side of the pot.

So, this is more a review of the Amazon Warehouse Deals system than the product. This was a like new item and the packaging still looked that way. It had obviously been re-opened and retaped. That's okay. The description said NO damage and that al parts where there.

Obviously, no one really looked at this!! There are four more "Like New" listed at the warehouse. HOWEVER, they have jacked the price up by $3 putting it only $2 less than a new one. Not a value now.

I have a similar model(from the the same maker) for about 10 years and I decided to replace it. After 3 month usage, I concluded that I couldn't give it a score more than 3: the water constantly comes out of the steam vent, making a mess on the lid, as well as adjacent counter area. You have to make sure that the top space is clear as well, otherwise any object immediately above will sure to catch a lot of steam: I am sure it is not good for wood cabinets. It matters little if I use the setting of white rice, slow cook or brown rice. Now I regret that I tossed my old cooker.

I just received it today and when it arrived, the box was not even in another box to hide or protect it. The box was tore open and dented and so I decided t o try it out to see if it worked. So far it does,(I cooked 4 cups of brown rice in it) however the rice took a hour and half!
The rice took 90 minutes to cook! My old cheap regular rice cooker tool only 20 minutes to cook white rice. This one says it takes 30 minutes to cook white rice! Why so long? I will try a second time to cook white rice in it and see how it comes out.

I can't give it more than two stars. The cooker is great, but it has a huge issue that I personally dislike very much. For some reason, food odors stick to the lid like crazy glue! I've washed it with vinegar, lemon, soaked it in hot water, baking soda, etc, etc, etc,... oh my gosh! What didn't I tried? I even boiled for hours cinnamon and lemons in it so it can at least smell good... The weird thing is that this doesn't happen with the other accessories it comes with. Everything else is easy to wash and does not retain any odors. I guess it must have something to do with the type of material the entire lid is made of. At this point I'll use it only for white rice and odorless foods. Not good for hearty seasoned food, unless you want the smell around for weeks. I wish Aroma would come up with a solution. Let's say a replacement lid made of a different material.

I've had a couple of problems with this product. The first time I used it, I followed all the directions, measured out the correct amount of water, and turned it on... and when it was done my rice was crunchy and half cooked. It was horrible. I turned it on for a second cycle and it still came out underdone. The second time I used it, the automatic shut off just stopped working, so my rice came out horrible and overcooked. I just can't win! I will not be using it for rice again.However, the one thing I do use it a lot for is to steam vegetables. The steamer basket is pretty perfect for a single portion or so, and if I set a timer and remember to come back to it, my veggies come out perfect and delicious. I steam broccoli in it probably once or twice a week and it is the easiest and most convenient way to cook a small portion when I'm just making it for myself.Since this product is useless for me for it's intended purpose, but I do still use for other things, 2 stars out of five. If it was marketed as just a veggie steamer, it'd be a more favorable score. I don't know if mine was a bad one or if they are all manufactured poorly, but I would not recommend this purchase.

I've used my rice cooker three times since receiving it and each time, it overflows. I've never used more than one 'measure' of rice and have never filled it past the '1' line with water. Now granted, the rice comes out tasting good, but it makes a huge mess! The answer to overflows in the troubleshooting section of the manual says I'm using too much water, but I am clearly not. Perhaps mine is defective. I'll attempt to exchange and update my review with the results.

We got this one in December 2014. All this time, it was fine, but today all of sudden while cooking rice, we noticed that the lid broke into pieces all by itself. Not sure if it is a defective piece or not.

The material used for the handle on the lid and the side of the cooker is really flimsy and cheap - the grip on both is not enough and not substantial. If you don't mind the cheapy annoying handling of the cooker, then this would be the best value for you. For me, I'm returning.DEAL BREAKER: The air vent on the lid is too big of a hole and would ruin the steaming process. Poor design.Also, the rice cup included did not resemble the picture at all. Instead of a cup, it was a small plastic bowl.

This rice cooker gets the job done.I'd like to mention some negative information. If I reviewed this item directly after I purchased it, I would give it five stars. Everything was excellent. Rice came out prefect, no burned spots. Unit switched from cooking to keeping the rice warm, perfectly.Fast forward several months and it's as if the unit does not switch to keeping the rice warm soon enough. This causes the bottom to become burnt more often than not. Sure you can further watch it and manually switch from cooking as the water dissipates. However, that sort of defeats the purpose of the unit.All and all I think it's worth the price, but I wouldn't purchase again.

It does cook rice. Poorly.The bottom always ends up over done (brown-ish_ and the top always seems a bit too wet no matter what I do. I usually use Kohuko Rose or another good quality rice. I've tried varying quantities of rice to water, pre-soaking the rice, washing and not washing the rice, stopping the cooker before it's fully done it's cook cycle, unplugging it as soon as it's done so that the warming cycle doesn't get a chance to turn on, etc. No matter what it is always over done on the bottom and it's not evenly done. I've (successfully) used many various rice cookers over the years so I don't think it's a user error (I also read the instructions multiple times just in case I was being overly dense).Over all I do not recommend this rice cooker.It seemed like a good deal for the price but sometime soon I will be replacing it with a different type (and hopefully much better/consistant) rice cooker.

Did not work well for me my rice turned out almost burnt on the bottom. I followed the book exactly and defiantly was not happy with the results. I ended up sending it back.

The rice cooker makes excellent rice. However, it vents water and steam which creates a mess. Update to my original review. We have used this cooker approximately 4 times and are throwing it away. It leaks water over our counters and on to the floor. I would not recommend this cooker. It makes great rice but the clean up is not worth it.

The hinge for the top is not structurally sound and flexes ... at times this keeps the latch for securing the top to the base/body when trying to close the top ... BUT at times the flex in the hinge is sufficient to disengage the latch when the top IS closed, which when carrying the device with the handle on the top of the top, results in spillage of cooked rice, or even worse, water and uncooked rice!

The rice ALWAYS comes out burnt and terrible. Everytime. Bought the most popular rice of Amazon and it comes out the consistency of courage. Added the appropriate amount of water, wash the rice before hand and everytime the thing burns the bottom of the rice and the texture is garbage. I hate this thing. Spend the extra money on a different model. This thing will be in my trash next time I get paid.

This is my first rice cooker and it might just be my last. It doesn't cook rice - period. It's supposed to do up to 20 cups cooked, but when I put 10 cups of rice In and fill the water line appropriately, it "cooks" me hard, unfinished pellets of rice. Yuck. I actually had to take rice out and finish it on the stove - what is the point?! Of course I tried to give it the benefit of the doubt - I used it 3x - and now I can't return the piece of crap. Ugh.

This ítem is no good. Just stpped working way before 30 days. Amazon takes no responsibility cuz its a 3 rd party. DO NOT BUY! YOU WILL BE SORRY. My last rice maker last 5 years. This one is a heap of junk! I'm still waiting for the replacement it seems that Black and Decker and put the address incorrectly so I call Black & Decker and I got the most rudest person that I've ever spoken with. She said for me to call UPS but they don't call UPS. I then asked to speak to a supervisor and you're not going to believe what she did she hung up on me. So I did all the leg work that they should have done but they don't care about their customers obviously corrected the address and I'm getting close to 20 days now and I still have no rice cooker besides this being trash I'm pretty sure that the new model isn't any better and you're not going to get any type of service I will never purchase another Black & Decker item and neither will anyone in my family. I posted this on my Twitter and I got over 20,000 hits of people that have had the same problem.

Best places to operate this rice cooker would probably be outdoors (clean up witha garden hose?) or in the bathtub (wash down with handheld shower attachment?)No matter where I place this appliance, it spews staining foam all over the place.I tried putting it in the sink (foam on curtains, dish rack, counter tops); placed it ona large kitchen table covered with newspapers (could not protect nearby chairs orfloor).Brown rice comes out fine in my small crock pot, A sheet of aluminum foil atop thecrockpot's glass cover allows the rice to cook faster and avoids the hot stainingfoam that spews from this B&D rice cooker and helps keep a kitchen cooler in thesummer months.

Though I bought this product in July 2015, I started to use it just about three months. The unit stopped working and I called the customer service.They want me to cut the power cord and mail it to them along with a check for $7.50. It makes no sense. Perhaps this is the direction all the customer service / product warranty is going to be. In stead of taking pains to do all the crappy work and also pay almost $10, I would rather buy a new one AND I believe that is what exactly these companies wants their customers do. I will never buy this brand again.

This is the second cooker we've purchased, as the first one had a motor that burned out two months into owning it. We bought a second, thinking it was a fluke. Guess what? It wasn't. This one burned out on us, too, just a few weeks after buying it. Horrible product.

I bought this a few weeks ago and had only used it once. I tried cooking brown rice and it worked as advertised and I had no issues. A week later, I plug it in, put the rice and water in and the cooker NEVER heated up. I then glanced at the LED by the Heat/Keep Warm lever on the front and it didn't turn on in an outlet I had used previously. I tried flipping the switch between the 2 settings and also plugging it into a new outlet and still no power.I contacted their Support number and was told it was defective (obviously) and that I would need to cut the plug and mail in the last 3 to 4 inches of the power cable, including the end and pay $7.50 for 'Replacement fees'. I shipped them the cooker back without paying the fee (which was half the price of the cooker) and am waiting for a replacement unit.I will update this post once the replacement is received.UPDATE 9/2015:I received the replacement about 2 months ago and used it once successfully. I just tried plugging it in to cook some rice and of course the same problem as last time happened. No lights, no heat, not working after 1 use. Contacting support again but would suggest looking elsewhere for a cheap rice cooker

After 3 months of use (4-5 times in total) it suddenly stopped working. The light wouldn't turn on.I checked the website for repairs, but the site ways that the service centers don't repair small kitchen appliances. Amazon won't take it back as it is past their return windows. So now am stuck with the rice cooker that doesn't work and cannot be repaired.This is the second B&D item that has stopped working within 3 months of purchase. I will definitely stay away from B&D in future.