Customer Reviews

Aroma ARC-1266F 6-Cup Rice Cooker & Food Steamer

5 star:		(57)
4 star:		(21)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(12)

 

 

This thing works great, and it steams veggies at the same time!!!! Just read the instructions thoroughly. If you are cooking brown or wild rice the water measurements are different. Rice comes out fluffy and moist every time. And, it stays moist on the warm setting too. I had it in there staying warm for over an hour and you wouldn't have known it, seriously. Buy this!

This is a really cheap rice cooker, so naturally it's very simple and isn't as versatile as the more expensive models. However, if all you're interested in is the basic functionality, it does the job almost perfectly.

If you've ever used a rice cooker you probably already know everything there is to know about it, they all follow the same pattern. It's got a non-stick pan, a warming function, a spoon and a cup and a steam tray. Basic stuff so i won't go into that.

I'm not sure if there is any real difference in cooking times between different rice cookers (i would assume not since rice can only absorb water so quickly), but this does the job well. A cup or two of white rice takes 15 or 20 minutes to finish; if it's brown rice it'll be more like 30. It seems slightly faster than boiling, but not by much. (Definitely way more convenient though.)

Some things i did notice:

1. When you plug it in, it automatically goes into 'cook' mode, even if the lid is open and the button isn't pressed. This is kind of annoying, i don't understand why it does it.

2. As far as i can tell, you can't just leave it plugged in all the time like a toaster. It's always running as long as it's got power, so when you're done with it you have to unplug it. This is a minor irritation, because i'm lazy. :(

3. The manual comes with cooking directions, but in my experience so far they've been off. If i follow the manual's instructions, my rice always comes out a too dry, kind of with a fried-rice consistency. This is especially the case with brown rice (which requires more liquid obviously). Their water measurements are just too conservative. But this of course depends on what kind of rice you're using, whether you add any extra ingredients, and so on, so it'll vary. You'll figure it out after one or two attempts though.

If you're interested in a rice cooker but you're wondering if it's worth it to get one, i'd definitely recommend it, especially since this one is so cheap. I myself had not personally owned a rice cooker before (although i was familiar with them), so i was sceptical about whether it'd get enough use out of it to justify the cost.

But i do! It's much easier to make it in the rice cooker than it is on the stove; i can dump the rice in when i wake up, and go do what i need to do to get ready for work (without worrying about whether it'll burn), and then shovel it all out right before i leave. I eat a lot more rice now than i did before.

Wanted to make some great sushi -- and this pot turned out fabulous rice, couldn't have been better for the task! Also, since getting this Aroma, I've done several one-dish dinners in it, steaming meat & veggies right with the rice. Its done a dynamite job -- almost like having a cook in the house, finishing off dishes for me. Easy to clean, quick to store, and absolutely as represented -- an inexpensive yet faithful piece of equipment with nice range of skills. Plus -- you can cook -- and transport -- hot food in it to a potluck dinner, easily -- and without getting burned. How's that for the price?!!!

I bought the Aroma 6 cup Cool Touch Rice Maker to replace a Wolfgang Puck rice maker that spewed steam and rice water all over the counter while it was cooking. The Aroma makes good rice like the Wolfgang Puck rice maker, but water collects on the top of my Aroma rice cooker and has to be poured off during the cooking process. It is also much larger than the Puck rice cooker so you have to have ample cabinet space to store it. Other than that the Aroma 6 cup cool touch is a good rice cooker at a very reasonable price, especially with Amazon Prime.

I love this little rice cooker. I have thus far made a couple types of brown rice and white sushi rice with it and have been pleased with the results every time. The brown rice has been perfectly cooked, and the sushi rice has been even better than I expected. Sometimes the bottom of the rice does get a little bit browned (seriously, only a tiny bit), but I like it that way. It certainly doesn't burn like other reviewers have said. Maybe they weren't following the directions? Or just following them badly.

There are some interesting little design features about this model that I didn't expect. The steam valve pops right off so you can clean it. I just run hot water through it when I think it needs it. There's also a little drip cup positioned under the hinge. When you lift the lid after cooking rice, the collected steam tends to drip down the lid. It won't puddle on the counter because the designers put a little drip cup right underneath the hinge. I think it's kind of ingenious. That, too, pops right off so you can empty it and rinse it out. Also, there's a little loop on the back, left side of the rice cooker where the rice paddle can rest. You don't have to set it on the counter after it's been covered in sticky, sticky rice.

Other reviewers have said they've had problems with rice water sputtering through the steam vent. I have not had that problem at all. The only time I had water sputtering out of the steam vent was when I made steel cut oats in the rice cooker. That took a little adjusting, but they did come out absolutely perfect. I ended up leaving the lid unlatched and I popped out the steam vent and the boil-over problem with the oats was solved. But steel cut oats boil over on the stove too, so I wasn't really surprised.

I'm sure other people have had problems because they didn't follow the directions. You have to wash the rice to get the excess starch off the grains before you cook them, otherwise they will boil over. This would happen in any rice-cooking method if you didn't wash the rice. You also have to dry off the inner pot before you put it into the rice cooker. Dripping water on the heating element can damage any rice cooker. Also, all the pieces have to be hand washed. Which I know can be a pain, but the rice pot is completely nonstick, so usually wiping it out with hot water and a sponge or a scrub brush gets it clean. The steam tray scarcely needs more than a rinse. The rice paddle often needs to be scrubbed pretty well, especially after being used with sticky rice.

I think the best thing about this rice cooker is the steam tray. You can use it to steam vegetables or proteins while you're cooking rice. This little gadget makes whole meals for one or two people in about 45 minutes (if cooking brown rice) with little to no tending. I don't eat meat, so I can't tell you how well it works for that. But I can tell you that it worked brilliantly for steaming tofu and tempeh while cooking rice. The key with steaming most vegetables along with rice is to put them in during the last few minutes of the rice cooking. So when I see the water level has gotten pretty low, I'll put the veggies in. Then everything gets done quickly and at the same time.

All in all, I'm giving this cooker five stars because it's inexpensive, it works really well, and the added steam tray feature makes it really easy for cooking healthy weeknight meals. I've used this little guy almost every day since I got it and it preforms beautifully. I definitely recommend this product if you're looking for an easy-to-use, inexpensive rice cooker.

Works great and is easy to clean. Even the vent comes apart into pieces so you can get it completely cleaned out.

I would not try to cook six cups of rice in it. It would boil over. It's the perfect size to make 2 cups of dry rice plus 3 cups of water = about 4 cups of finished rice.

It will also hold a basic recipe for one-pot dinner:
1.5 cups dry rice
2 cups water
1 can of chicken or tuna with liquid (5 oz.)
1 can of vegetables with liquid (15 oz.)
1 can of condensed soup (12 oz.)
Throw all of the ingredients into the pot, give them a stir and turn it on. 20 minutes later, you'll be having a warm comfort-food dinner.

From the very first time I used the Aroma rice cooker, the switch for "cook" would move to the"warm" position within the first minutes of cooking. I would catch it and push it back to "cook". After about 5 uses the switch completely broke and I couldn't set it to anything. I have to say that if I didn't have this problem I would have kept the cooker because the rice came out great and we enjoyed it. I returned it to Amazon and actually ordered the same one again. I guess my thinking was what would be the odds of getting another one like that. Well I guess I got the jackpot because the new one also had the same switch problem. I said, "enough is enough" and picked a Sanyo rice cooker. I did see in the reviews that someone else had the same problem with their Aroma rice cooker, just thought it was one-of-a-kind issue, guess not!

This is the first rice cooker that I have owned, so I do not have anything to compare with. However, this is easy to use and does a wonderful job in cooking rice--perfect every time. When I first received it, I had several questions so I called the 1-800 number and the representative was friendly and helpful in fully answering my questions. I would not hesitate in purchasing another Aroma product or recommend one to a friend.

I had a bad experience with this rice cooker. The first few times it worked OK, but later I found that the rice cooker would switch to "Warm" mode within about 5 minutes of cooking. When I would open the lid I found that there is a lot of water still remaining and the rice is not cooked at all. Worst is,it wouldn't let me switch it back to the "Cook" mode. I'm not sure if this was a defective piece. Anyways I have returned it to Amazon, and ordered a Zojirushi rice cooker. Need a reliable rice cooker!

this product works great i love it cooks really fast i coudnt believe how fast it cook
im going to get one for my daugther she wants one.