Aroma Housewares ARC-996 6-Cup (Uncooked) 12-Cup (Cooked) Digital Rice Cooker and Food Steamer, White

Just received this rice cooker. Did alot of research and settled on this one. I cooked 1 cup of brown rice in it, and it came out perfect. It does take a while for the rice to cook (about 1 hour for brown rice, white rice around 30-35 min.) but I was more looking for perfect rice and not speedy rice. Made oatmeal in it this morning (took 30 min.) and it was perfect. It is large for one person, but you are able to make large amounts of rice and meals when you need it. I dont think it is much bigger than the 6 cup or 8 cup models. It seems to handle small amounts of rice (1 cup) very well. Plus I have the comfort knowing I can make more than enough rice to feed a army! The steaming basket, large enough for Veggies and Meats is also a plus because you can steam them while you cook your rice. Perfect for making Yoshinoya style chicken bowls (Smile). No complaints so far. Sure beats the hassle of making rice on the stovetop along with the cleanup. This cooker sets up in a snap and clean up is a breeze. Its digital and easy to use. Instructions that came with it are easy to understand. Seems very well built and looks sleek. Very comparable to the more expensive rice cookers. It makes 12 cups of cooked white rice and 6 cups of cooked brown rice. (1 Cup is actually 3/4 cup measured in rice cookers). Dont know why I waited so long to get a rice cooker. This one is a winner. Luv It!

I just received my Aroma rice cooker today and used it to make tonight's dinner. This machine is great and the price is unbeatable! For the quality you're receiving, it is an amazing value. I really liked the built in steamer, it makes this appliance a perfect multi-tasker in the kitchen. For its first use I made 2 cups of white rice and steamed some broccoli in the top basket. While the rice and broccoli were cooking, I cleaned and grilled some chicken on the barbecue. The rice finished just before my chicken was done, but I didn't need to worry about it getting cold thanks to the "keep warm" feature on the cooker. It automatically shifts from a high-heat cook mode to a low-intensity warming mode that keeps rice at ideal temperature until it is served. The rice was warm and fluffy and my broccoli was tender and delicious; definitely not overcooked/mushy. Another cool feature that may be easily overlooked is the cooker's condensation catcher. It collects extra condensation during the cooking process in an external plastic tray and prevents that water from dripping back down onto the rice and making it wet/soggy. I can't wait to use this product over and over again.

Nice, reasonably priced rice steamer. Cooks brown rice very well, which is just about all we use it for. Might try the steam basket one day, but I bought it primarily to get brown rice cooked during the day so it is ready at dinner time.

Honestly, this is a nice rice cooker... however, I left a review before I even examined the unit. When I pulled it out the box it was nice till I was cleaning it for the first use, then I discovered that the rice paddles holder was broken... I swear it seems that almost everything that I buy has some kind of an issue. The correlle plate set I got seemed to be manufacturer defects with excessive glass sticking out,the anchor hocking glasses looked like a loogie. And the rice cooker was damaged. I am gonna receive the coaster contemporary oval table tomorrow and hope that it does not show signs of damage... the only two items i reciever that seemed okay were a peeled by kitchenaid and a oxo good grip cutting board. Still waiting for Amazon to ship my ironing board.. I think I am gonna cancel. Found out the only reason it took forever to receive my glasses and rice cooker that I ordered 2 days before the cutting board was because Amazon wanted to shipping all three together... really disappoint and hope amazing stops screwing me

Been using it for about a month now and it works great. It has a booklet with it that explains how to use it properly, and cooking times for steaming common vegetables. The rice always comes out nice and fluffy and I like the warming feature. I also like the settings for cooking brown and white rice (they're different, brown taking more time to cook), because I eat both. I've used it to steam asparagus, broccoli, and cauliflower and they've all turned out excellent.I would definitely recommend this to anyone looking for an inexpensive, quality product with plenty of instructions for usage.

The reason for 1 star taken off is this; 1. No instructions. 2. No Steamer basket included, looking at other reviews, there should be. 3. No spatula, which was supposed to be included as well. 4. No measuring cup either. --- AS for the actual rice, it does it very well, if not abit dry. I may try adding more water, though. Great product, can't beat it for the price, but annoyed at the no Steam Basket & accessories...not worth sending back the whole product for that. Infact, the cooker pot that contains the rice, is shown white in the images here, while mine is entirely black. I am now worried I got the wrong product...down to 3.

After using this cooker several times to cook brown rice, I'm impressed with its ease of use, ease of clean-up & the quality of the finished rice. Aroma has been making these cookers for many years & it shows in its ease of use & how well the rice turns out fluffy & well-cooked. Know that the brown rice takes about 1 1/2 hrs. to cook because there is a soaking cycle. Time delay requires a minimum setting of 2 hrs. for brown rice.{ BTW only brown rice has any real food value in it & is an easily acquired taste.} The only problem was the lousy packing done by Amazon. They succeeded in breaking off the spatula holder, something they had never heard of on the Aroma Cust. Service line. Aroma offers excellent tech support & offered to exchange my cooker for another one. I'm very glad I spent the extra money on this model with a brown rice setting & time delay.

Ever since I first got a rice cooker a few years ago, it's been one primary kitchen "gadget" that I can't live out. Long story short, my old one died and since the Aroma ARC-996 got good reviews, I purchased it. I've had this model for several months now and I can't say enough about it. I usually cook brown rice (usually japonica rice), but also cook white rice (basmati and jasmine), barley, farro, lentils, and beans in this baby and everything comes out great. My old cooker sometimes burnt the very bottom layer of rice but this one only has that issue with rice that's really been sitting there on "leave warm" for a while, which is expected. I love the simple controls and compact shape of the cooker, and it's very easy to clean. Sometimes while I'm cooking rice I like to make a foil packet of my meat and veg to cook right on top of the grains, making for the easiest clean up ever. I also like that it has an on/off button so I can leave it plugged in. Looking back at the product specs, I see that it's listed as a 12 cup capacity machine. Personally I find that if I put 3 scoops of rice, it starts getting a little gummier than if I cook less at a time. Since 2 scoops cooked = maybe 3-4 cups (since a scoop is < 1 C rice) I don't know how you could get 12 cups of cooked rice out of this. Unless you're cooking for a large family and are using rice as the basis of your meal (say, Chinese or Japanese style), it will be enough for at least 3 or 4 people easily, though.