Rival Automatic Steamer/Rice Cooker 4450 GW Slow Cooker

Pros: Easy to use, perfect rice every time.
Cons: None.

My husband and I both enjoy cooking, and many of our friends and family members have come to expect that we will have some new food item to share with them each time we get together. My bachelor brother-in-law expects the most from us and he always ...

Pros: Simple to use, food comes out great!
Cons: Cooking time is long, vinegar needed for cleaning

A Secret Revealed
I must now tell you all a secret that has only been known in my immediate family: I Am in a Mixed Marriage!

Yes, sadly, it's true. I like Minute Rice and he likes Uncle Ben's Converted...

Pros: Dependable, easy to use
Cons: No off switch (have to unplug)

I received my Rival Steamer/Rice cooker close to 5 years ago as a Christmas present. It is one of those appliances that never gives you any trouble and also gets no respect.

I have made so much rice in this little machine and it always turns...

Pros: Provides easiest way to make rice - I think Rival is better than International
Cons: It tends to occasionally shut off too early

I will go over some basics of using a rice cooker versus using a pot on a stove to cook rice.

I will include my likes and dislikes of the Rival Rice Cooker and rice cookers in general.

I have used two different brands of similar...

Pros: Performs as advertised, great booklet (worth the unit's price alone), cleans easily.
Cons: No automatic shut off; nor a out of water sound alert.

Rival Automatic Steamer and Rice Cooker (Model 4450)
Customer Service Department: 1-800-557-4825 (USA and Canada)
Service Division: 217 East 16th Street; Sedalia, MO 65301

Having arrived into this world in 1950 I was totally...

Pros: Easy to use, excellent results.
Cons: Leaked after half a dozen uses.

The unit worked well initially in my experiments with cooking white and brown rice, although the recipe for cooking brown rice that came with the product produced severely overcooked rice.  This was easily remedied by reducing the amount of water, ...

Pros: Cooks well, easy cleanup
Cons: I never want to share the food

I use my steamer for vegetables and rice. If you love Chinese food, you can make it yourself at home with one of these. This is a nice sized unit, cooks the food very well, and the food tastes delicious. Normal cooking cam remove the flavor and...

Pros: steams beautifully, easy to clean, calibrator for water, incredibly durable
Cons: auto shut-off quit working on mine

This is one of those products in my kitchen than has stood the test of time!!! I was given this as a gift 8 years ago and it keeps on ticking. It is used about 3-5 times per week in my house, and it still steams to perfection.
Basically you just...

Pros: Perfect every time.  Easy.  Healthy!
Cons: Only use same volume of water as grain.  Clean boiler with vinegar.

I have always been a top-of-the-stove, make it from scratch kind of girl.  A friend talked about using her rice cooker, that it always made perfect rice.  I inherited this gadget from my husband's first (late) wife, and hadn't ever used it.  We had the manual, so I thought, why not.  Once I got the feel of it, perfect rice every time.  The manual does want you to put too much water it.  I use one cup of water with one cup of rice in the top, then three cups of water in the bottom.  Lately I have been adding various seeds and grains--brown rice with sunflower seeds, "wheat berries," raw peanuts, sesame seeds, red rice, pumpkin seeds/pepitos--in various combinations and amounts.  Yum!  Also, and maybe this isn't a function of the cooker, I have found no need to add salt.