Introduction Rice cookers occupy an interesting spot in the small appliance world, in that they’re deceptively simple on the surface — heat water and rice until the water’s gone — while actually requiring fairly precise temperature management to get consistently good results across different rice varieties. That precision is exactly why dedicated rice cookers have…

Introduction The multicooker category has grown crowded enough that differentiation increasingly comes down to details that used to be afterthoughts — the specific coating used on the inner pot, the number of built-in safety mechanisms, or whether a brand best known for air fryers and other countertop appliances can credibly compete in a space long…

Introduction There’s a particular kind of clutter that builds up in kitchens over time, not from any single bad purchase, but from the slow accumulation of appliances that each solve one narrow problem. A rice cooker earns its keep on a weekly basis, while a yogurt maker or a dedicated steamer might get pulled out…

Introduction Not every household needs an 8-quart multicooker capable of feeding a large family in one batch. For individuals, couples, or smaller households, a full-size multicooker can end up feeling oversized for the kind of everyday cooking that actually happens most days — a single portion of rice, a modest batch of soup, or steamed…

Introduction As multicookers have matured as a product category, manufacturers have generally taken one of two directions: keep the function list focused and approachable, or keep expanding it to capture more specialized cooking techniques that used to require entirely separate equipment. Sous vide cooking is a good example of the latter — a technique that…

Introduction Rice cookers occupy a strange middle ground in the small appliance world. On one hand, cooking rice on the stovetop isn’t especially complicated once someone’s done it a few dozen times. On the other hand, getting truly consistent results — the right texture, no burnt bottom layer, no mushy overcooked batch — turns out…

Introduction There was a time when a fully equipped kitchen meant a fairly long inventory of single-purpose appliances, most of which sat in storage far more often than they were actually used. A pressure cooker might come out only a handful of times a year for a specific recipe, a rice cooker takes up permanent…