Customer Reviews

Oster 4724 20-Cup Rice Cooker, Stainless Steel

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(10)

 

 

I decided to try a rice cooker because my family prefers rice over potatoes and I wanted to be able to leave the rice to warm while I did other things for a meal.

Good points-
*This cooker is easy to clean.
*This cooker is easy to use. Just fill according to directions and portion size needed, press the lever and let it go.
*It comes with a steamer basket to give this cooker double duty for veggies, dumplings etc.
*It is a very handsome design that matches a great many other products from different manufacturers.
*The liner is non-stick and removable for easy cleaning.
*In my use it has never boiled over BUT a great deal of HOT steam is vented from the top as it cooks so be careful.

Not so good points-
*It can tend to over cook and make a brown crust to the rice on the very bottom of the pan. This is not helped by the warming cycle that continues as long as the cooker is plugged in. The best thing is to be aware when the cycle ends and unplug the unit. It will keep rice warm for a meal on it's own.
*I found it needed a bit more water than the directions called for to cook any type of rice.
*This unit has no off/on switch to turn it OFF. You must unplug the unit to truly turn it OFF.

I would recommend this unit to anyone who wants to try a rice cooker. We have been happy and it saves a burner on the stove for other cooking needs. Just keep an eye for when the rice is done and unplug the unit. It will keep rice warm just on it's own without the warming cycle.

We have been trying to switch to a healthier carb lifestyle so I finally had to break down and buy a rice cooker for cooking my wild rice. This rice cooker does an excellent job of cooking our wild rice when you follow the package directions of 1 cup wild rice to 4 cups liquid (we use Bob's Red Mill rice). Wild rice takes forever to cook (about 1 hour for a cup of uncooked rice). This rice cooker is great because now I can put it all in and walk away instead of having to stick close to the stove/oven. I haven't used this cooker to make any other type of rice, but given it's performance with our rice I'd have to guess it would do an equally excellent job with other types of rice.

I bought this rice cooker last year and have only used it a few times, so I couldn't speak to it's longevity/durability.

For the first year we owned this rice cooker it was very nice. Many times we have been cooking rice in it and steaming vegetables in the tray at the same time, and it has always come out nicely. After about 18 months of use, it just flat out stopped working. It worked one day, and the very next day - nothing. No light on the front, no heat from the heating element, nothing. As it was well out of warranty, I took it apart and could find no parts that looked to have failed. All of the electrical connections were solid with no corrosion. No broken or shorted wires, no burned out components. It just gave up the ghost for not apparent reason. Not worth the money.

I had one of these for about 4 years, and it worked fairly well for that time. Then, last week, it abruptly died. It was on the "Keep Warm" setting when the lights suddenly went out, and the machine has not worked since. I have taken it apart to investigate, but I could not find anything wrong with it. My guess is that the wiring or circuits shorted out some place that is hard to see.
As I said, it worked well for those 4 years, but I expect a decent appliance to last much longer than that.

I've had probably six rice cookers to date, so far this one is the nicest I've had. The design is nice (although a pain to keep clean) the lid design helps keep the rice warmed without it turning into a burnt mess. I can cook bigger quantities and the rice comes out cooked perfectly. I cant speak for the longevity of it but I've used it twice now and it seems to work great and makes delicious rice.

I have tried so many times to get this thing to make good rice. I have tried different ratios of water to rice, different kinds of rice and every time the rice is either crunchy, mushy or burned on the bottom. I thought that rice makers were supposed to make cooking rice a cinch but that has not been my experience with this appliance. I am tempted to shell out for a fancy japanese rice maker because this one clearly is a waste of counter space.

The first rice cooker we received quit working within weeks of purchase. We were able to exchange it and while this one has worked for about a year it hasn't worked well. The button frequently won't stay depressed without wiggling it around or somehow propping it down. The lining of the pan has peeled and it is not very appetizing to think that the paint peeling ended up in our food. Now the cooker has completely stopped working and we haven't had it for much more than a year. Waste of money.Constant source of frustration - occasional source of rice

Mine stopped working in just over a year. I'm not so sad, though -- it never made good rice. It was always burned at the bottom.

On the plus side, it was easy to clean. . .

It says 20-Cup but its only 10 cup. It will cook up to 20 but actually its only 10-cup like other 10 cup cooker. People do not bother reading all the details. I bought and had to exchange again and return again.
Why do they titled like that?

I've had really good experiences with this rice cooker. The steamer basket for vegetables makes it really easy to make a whole meal in one shot (although I am vegetarian.) There are hundreds of recipes online from dinners to desserts that you can make in one of these!

I've read some of the reviews stating that the pan forms a brown crust on the bottom of the rice. I didn't have that problem, but did find that things dried out if I left them in the cooker too long. I have avoided this by not running the warming cycle. I usually serve dishes as soon as they're finished, but I imagine that microwaving or quickly warming in the oven would be a better choice than the warming cycle.