Panasonic SR-W10NA 5-Cup Rice Cooker/Steamer, White

This is the rice cooker preferred by the America's Test Kitchen (Cooks Illustrated) testing lab.

First of all, when the thing showed up the product box was open which I thought was a little strange. When I get the cooker out I see it's dirty. I'm not exactly sure how a new cooker gets dirty... The pot was dirty, the lid was dirty, and the steamer tray was dirty. This thing was either a return or a store demo.

And I can see why the last person returned it. Once i got it cleaned up I tried steaming vegetables. It was OK (you have to time them yourself), but a lot of water condensed on the lid, then rolled down to the egde of the pot and boiled on the edge and sputtered out. So it basically spits doplets of boiling water out randomly.

I have just tried brown rice. I followed the exact enclosed instructions and the rice came out a little dry. The very bottom layer of the rice created a burnt ring above the heating element. It also created a nice burnt rice smell in my kitchen.

I'm not too impressed with my new rice cooker, and will...Read more