Customer Reviews

Oster 4722 Rice Cooker with Steaming Tray, Red

5 star:		(31)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(11)

 

 

I've never owned a rice cooker before this, however, I have cooked lots of rice over the years. Its an inexpensive rice cooker and if you follow the directions, it'll do fine.

Since moving to the mountains of Colorado, its taken me years to adjust to the lowered the boiling point due to the higher elevation (8300')... it takes more time (add ~10-20min) and the dry climate means using more water (for a 1 cup of dry rice, takes ~2.5+ cups water rather than 2cups). Still, there have been many times when rice just didn't work out the way I wanted.

So I mentioned that it would be nice to have a rice cooker and let it deal with the cook time. Of course I had done some research, and when this came in the mail as a present, I was a little nervous since Oster's seem to get so-so reviews. Well, I cooked my typical basmati rice, a 1/2 cup dry and added my typical 1c water plus extra, put lid on, pressed the button and went to do something else.

A lot of reviewers mention how the rice on the bottom gets over-cooked, sometimes brown or burnt. Some reviewers like the crunchiness, some hate it. Well, the directions tell you to stir the rice - especially the bottom of the cooker after 15 minutes. Sure enough, the rice at the bottom was starting to stick. I scraped it all loose, added another 1/4 cup water, chopped it up a little, put the lid on, and let fate take its course. Would the rice by a burnt mess? 20 minutes later we had the best sticky rice we've ever had!

Plus it seemed to cook faster. And I really liked that it went to 'warm' mode automatically. One major drawback: It spewed hot sticky water up under the lid and through the vent all over the kitchen but once we wiped the lid off (without picking up the lid), it settled down. If you are a neat freak or want a set-and-forgot, this rice cooker is not for you. And for me, I'll come up with a little steam catcher helmet and deal with the mess. For the price, its a good buy. And, I love the red color too!

[found this cool tip from Spyce: To help keep the starch from bubbling up and spraying out of the vent hole, rinse the rice thoroughly and drain. Heat a small amount of olive oil in the rice bowl, once the oil is heated, carefully add the rice and saute it for 3 to 4 minutes. Add the water and continue cooking.] I'm going to try this tip next time!

BTW, this cooker seems like a knock-off of the similar Rival rice cooker (both owned by Jarden]

I just got this cooker today, so durability is not something I can rate yet.

These are the things I like;

1. No plastic. This was important for me. Both the bottom rice cooker and the steamer tray are metal. The lid is glass.

2. Nice and compact. I cook for my wife and myself, so I don't something huge, and of course storage space is always limited. The steamer tray is small; on the other hand, the manual claims that this can cook up to 5 cups of rice.

3. Easy cleanup. Yes some of the rice made a gooey mess in the bottom, but a little soaking took it all right out.

4. Inexpensive.

5. Multi-purpose. I have used it once so far, and here's what I did. I put some brown rice in the bottom rice cooker, and some salmon, broccoli and cauliflower in the steamer tray. The manual says nothing about steaming anything other than veggies, but I thought I'd try it. The result: Excellent. The salmon was cooked to perfection, and so were the vegetables. So I had a complete, tasty, and healthy meal, all in one cooker, and so long as I was prepared to let the bowl and the tray soak for a bit, cleanup was a breeze. Oh and you can make soups, stews, etc. instead of cooking rice. It's not a large-capacity cooker but it would make plenty of stew for two people.

Things I don't like:

1. No timer. It apparently senses when the steam is gone, and then switches to "warmer" mode automatically. The only control is a switch that goes from "cook" to "warmer." This also means that you have to unplug it to turn it off, though that doesn't bother me.

That's about the only thing I have to carp about so far. It didn't bubble or spit at all.

If I can get at least three or four years of regular (and by regular I mean nearly daily) use out of this thing, I'll consider it an extremely good value.

Update June 2010: OK sometimes it does bubble and spit a bit. Nothing terrible. I've used it probably 25 times altogether without any problems. Considering the low purchase price, I'd call this thing a good value. I'd buy it again.

I bought this thinking it would take up so much less space on my counter top than the other model I had in mind. I got home to use it and was so disappointed until I read a comment someone else made about a review. It did sputter and spit and shoot rice water on my counter and the rice seemed to stick-the trick is to add a little butter or oil of your choice and a little salt. Now it works like a charm! I usually add liquids and butter first, then the rice. I start it up an hour or two before I want to actually eat the rice, or even longer. I've let it run for 3-4 hours before. It keeps the rice nice and warm all that time. I use this about every day-we love rice and I just started a gluten free diet so I'm eating more rice instead of noodles. I'm glad I checked the reviews after the initial disappointment. This one is a keeper.

As a single person I loathed shopping for a rice cooker. After browsing Target and Bed Bath and Beyond I was sad because they seemed to sell only huge rice cookers. Leftovers are good but one person does NOT need a 10 cup rice cooker. This is the perfect size for one, maybe two, people.

It cooks quickly, cleans easily, and can steam vegetables or meat so you don't have to dirty two appliances for dinner.

I have two gripes about it though. First one is the bowl sitting on the heating element is held down by the lid and food inside. Sometimes if I lift the lid to stir, the bowl pops up and off the heating element and the switches go from Cooking to Keep Warm. Then you must reset it and risk burning the food if you aren't watching. The second is that there is no cookbook or recipes in with the appliance. First appliance I've bought that didn't at least have a handful of recipes in the instruction guide. You're left to pretty much guess the times and amounts for most of the cooking.

Look, all rice cookers require a degree of set-it-and-forget-it-but-pay-attention. It's in the nature of the beast.

I put into the cooker a scoop (included measurer) of brown rice, 2.5 cups water, a veggie bouillon cube, and some olive oil; and in *ABOUT* an hour, sometimes less, sometimes more, check your local weather conditions, I have a VERY NICE bowl of WELL-COOKED rice. Okay, sometimes it needs to sit an extra hour, power off, to fluff properly. So COOK AHEAD OF TIME!

I can serve it directly or use it in a salmon skillet; different results require some attention to detail, but anyone who CANNOT use this device is an IDIOT.

In the two years I've owned this machine, I've cooked MINIMUM five hundred bowls of rice. It works.

I ADORE this machine.

It's always grating to read reviews from people who don't know how rice is properly cooked. Here's a hint for all- if you have to add oil and stir and watch your rice, you have a bad cooker. Adding oil and stirring and all that is for cooking rice in a pot or a skillet. The entire point of owning a rice cooker it to get away from that, hence why this is a horrible rice cooker.

With a proper rice cooker, you literally just add rice and water, hit the button, and forget about it. Yes, you usually need to rinse your rice before you cook it to prevent starchy water bubbling up- if you don't know that, you need to get better informed before you make rice cooking a part of your life.

With this machine, people are stirring, and adding oil and butter to prevent sticking, and trying to justify the shoddy uneven cooking by saying they like burnt rice. Please, pelase, go out and find someone who has a real rice cooker, so you can see it done properly. In fact, many asian eateries make their white rice in a restaraunt-size rice cooker. You put the rice in, and it comes out perfect. End of story.

Even if you're willing to put up with stirring and oil, why are you buying this product? Just make your rice in a skillet. It's really quite easy if you try it once, and I'll even give you a traditional method. Throw your rice into a skillet (however much you want, one cup rice is three cups cooked), put your finger on the rice and add water up to your first knuckle (or to about the average knuckle if your hands are really abnormal). Bring the water rapidly to a boil, stir once if you're worried about sticking (if you have to stir more you're doing it wrong), then simmer until most of the water is absorbed (bubbles form and break in the top of the rice). Cover and reduce to low heat until all the water is absorbed, which varies based on your rice. Fluff before serving. Ta-da! (If this sounds like what other reviews are doing with this cooker- it is! The cooker is just working like a small pot, and the measuring system does the finger trick for them. You might as well just do it on the stove.)

I've owned a few of these kind of cheap rice cookers over the years and they are usually pretty durable and get the job done for a great price. This one, however, is broken after only a few months of use, lights don't work and it won't heat up. Total disappointment. I do not recommend this brand.

This is nice rice cooker, especially for one person. I have had this rice cooker for 3 years now and it's such a time saver. I put in 1 cup of brown rice and 2.5 cups of water and press down on the "on" button and leave it. It's so simple; now I don't to worry about burning my rice. If you had rice "stick" on this, try adding a 1/4 cup more water. That should do the trick. (Note: If you use white rice, the ratio 1 cup rice to 2 cups water.)

It also has a nice steamer, so you can steam vegetables at the same time. It has a small "footprint" so it doesn't take up a lot of room. It does the job and is inexpensive. One thing I did notice is the power cord length is on the short side, but I am very satisfied.

It's not the fanciest, greatest rice cooker ever, but it certainly could be worse. For dorm life--considering the price--it's quite lovely. The only downside (that I've seen so far) is that it tends to sputter a bit with rice that creates bubbles (i.e. basmati). I'd recommend it for any low budget, but if you've got the money to spend, I'd try and get something a little nicer. It really just depends on how much you want to use it.

I almost did not buy this rice cooker because of the reviews I read here........but I did get it....as I liked the fact that the lid is separate and can be put in the dishwasher....I made rice in it and it came out perfect. I had no sticking on the bottom at all.......just follow directions and stir rice after 15 minutes.......then forget it......I use 2 cups rice and four cups water....salt and sprayed the bottom with a little pam......perfect.....I cook a lot of rice as I add it to my dogfood.....with canned and dry....and we eat rice at least once a week.....so buy it....it's a great price...