Oyama CFS-F10W 5 Cup Rice Cooker, Stainless White

January 20, 2012 (See below for January 8, 2013's One Year Update)We are finding that this is definitely a 5-Star purchase. We love the triple-layered stainless steel cooking pot (which both eliminates the health issues related to non-stick coatings and, at the same time, reduces sticking) and the stainless steel vegetable/meat steaming insert. We were a bit hesitant about ordering a 5-Cup rice maker for just one or two people, but as it turns out the measuring cup that comes with the product is smaller than standard and even when cooking for one person, two of these 6-ounce scant cups is hardly more than one person can use in a couple of days.Now for a few things that may not be shortcomings for many, but which might be helpful to know about in advance:1.) When you remove the cooking pot from the unit, the lid remains attached to the top of the cooker. Any standard 2-quart lid will cover the rice pot perfectly so for us this is a non-problem.2.) The cooking temperature and length of cooking time do result in rather over cooked (at least for us) vegetables. But can you believe it? It takes only about ten minutes (at most) to load the rice, vegetables, and meat and 30 minutes or so for the entire meal to cook (while we're off doing something else). Often we steam our vegetables separately on the stove top so the problem is easy to work around when you want your steamed vegetables with a bit of crispness to them. This, also, leaves more space in the rather smallish vegetable steamer insert.3.) We do not yet know how long lasting the silcone gaskets which seal the steamer lid and rice pot will be. These gaskets make it possible to keep the rice, vegetables,and meat warm and moist after cooking so for some they are an important part of the unit. It may be possible to cook and steam without needing to replace these gaskets. Time'll tell.One recipe we use and enjoy a lot is to mix a tablespoon or two of ready-to-use wakame seaweed in the rice (first soak the seaweed for about 5 minutes) and water before cooking and then place thin slices of raw chicken breast on top of that mixture. This leaves a lot more space in the steamer/meat insert.Our original choice was a close call between the Oyama 5-cup and the Miracle Exclusives Model ME81 8-cup which seems to be, at least, an equally good option though having a larger 8-cup capacity. It, also has a larger steamer insert which could be very useful and seems not to have any of the gaskets mentioned above. All in all, we chose the Oyama model over the ME81 only because of its smaller capacity and the triple-layered bottom of its cooking pot. If the ME81 had offered a 5-cup capacity, it might just as well have been our preferred choice. We are satisfied with our selection though and are especially glad about two things:1.) We by-passed a 3-cup model which we had originally thought would be the only way for us to go;2.) we chose a model with a vegetable-meat steamer insert. This makes all the difference if you're interested in making complete meals in one simple container;3.) and now that we are using this model, we are very pleased with the possibility of having nice warm, moist complete meals on our own timing rather than having to rush and turn the cooker/steamer off or eat right away before the food turns cold or dries out. We had not even considered this last advantage when making our decision for this model. A nice suprise.January 8, 2013: First year update!And now here we are almost a full year after our original review of the Oyama All Stainless Steel 5 Cup Rice Cooker/Warmer, and I don't think a week has passed without our using this unit several times. Over the year, we have grown gradually more experimental until now, in the bottom container, we make all sorts of stews and soups mixing brown, white,or wild rice (not to mention other grains) with chunks of chicken, beef,tempeh, seaweed, chopped greens, etc.and most recently we've begun to stir in a dry packet of seasoning (Mexican, Indian, Thai, Italian, Cajun, etc.). Three of our favorites are: Lawry's Enchilada Sauce (spices and seasoning); Tasty Bite's Cooking Sauce (esp. Satay Partay) and Simply Organic's Grilling Seasons (Lemon pepper Marinade Mix). As usual, we place our favorite vegetables in the top steamer insert, and with a salad and drink we can have an extremely nice meal very easily and simply. It took a bit of experimenting, but we can now select from a wide variety of meals that we all enjoy tremendously and take very little time to prepare.I mention all this because it is very easy to have such an item as this cooker without realizing how much variety is possible in its use. It took us a few months to build up the variety we most enjoy (and we're ever on the alert for new possibilities), but it has made a world of difference in how much we use this little cooker...which we now know is a lot more than just a rice cooker/steamer/warmer.

The design of this rice cooker is seriously flawed. It cooks rice well, but cleanup is a nightmare. It has many many crevices and cracks that collect food saturated moisture. It took between 10 and 15 minutes to clean it after each use. I used it about 4 or 5 times a week for six months to steam rice, vegetables, and sometimes chicken. Even after very thorough cleaning, there was enough of this moisture somewhere on the inside of the steamer that it began to stink. Short of disassembling it, there was no way to clean it well. I am quite handy, but taking it apart would have been a complicated and time consuming task. I finally just threw it in the trash which is a shame because it still worked. It was too stinky for the Goodwill.In addition (and this also proves it was designed by a fool) it is nearly impossible to open the lid without burning yourself, AND the power switches are on one side instead of the front. I found myself constantly spinning it around from one side to the other to use it.Buying this was an expensive mistake. To replace it I bought a Tatung -- quite expensive but a dream to use and a snap to clean.

I like the fact that it has stainless steel inner pot for that size of 5 cups. It cooks the rice fine. Rice sticks a bit on the bottom, like other rice cookers.I have Aroma 3 cup and 10 cup stainless steel inner pot rice cooker with glass lid. The 3 cup one splatters all the starchy water when it boils on the counter and things surrounding it. So I thought, since this cooker is covered completely I can avoid the splatters, but not so. When the steam comes out of the vent a lot of starchy water splatters around on that side. Not very happy about it. Right now I just cover the vent with a paper towel so it does not make the counter dirty and I also place the cooker on a larger plate, so that any starchy water dripping out from the side collects on the plate.

It was hard to find a small, good rice cooker with no teflon! I was very happy to find this one.

Cooks rice well, but has 2 glaring oversights: first, the electric wire connection is somewhat loose, so the wire likes to pop out at times and stop the cooker cooking; but second, much more importantly, the lid does not open all the way and does not stay open without being always held in its open position; meaning it's impossible to scoop out rice, one hand needs to scoop out while the other must keep holding open the lid. Horrible design, wish I bought another rice cooker.

I bought this rice cooker because it has a stainless steel pot and I want to avoid Teflon type coatings. The 5-cup size is just right for our family although I usually make less than that (1.5 cups dry rice) I have mostly been using white Cal Rose rice and it cooks it to perfection. I have also cooked a brown rice/wild rice mix a couple of times and it takes quite a bit of liquid to get the perfect doneness on the rice. It is a long-cooking rice and the cooker doesn't shorten that time. The steamer basket insert is the right size for steaming some veggies for lunch for my kid and I but is not big enough for the veggies at dinner time. There is usually a bit of slightly burned rice (light brown not charred) on the bottom but it doesn't affect the flavor. I also store and reheat the left over rice in the pot. I have found that the lid of an 8 cup round pyrex dish fits perfectly on the pot to store it in the fridge. To reheat, I add a bit of fresh water and set the rice cooker to the cook mode again. I don't mind that one needs to unplug the unit to shut it off as I store it in the cupboard when I don't use it.