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.

After my previous non-stick rice cooker started to chip, and fully knowing the host of NASTY diseases linked to its toxic coating, I decided to take the chance to go in a health direction, and pick up a chemical free, stainless steel rice cooker.The Good:-It works great! I personally love cooking organic basmati rice with mine, and even on my first try it turned out fantastic. Not mushy and not dry. I love steaming veggies, and it works just fine even if they are frozen solid when you put them in.-I was worried the rice would burn on the bottom, even the instructions warn about it and really wasn't sure what to expect. After cooking I noticed that the bottom layer of rice (only 1 grain deep) only needed to be gently scrapped off, otherwise it was fine. Nothing burned, and it would be incredibly easy to clean the little stuck on starch with with a plastic brillo pad, or letting hot water soak it for a minute.The So-So:-The seal isn't good enough, because I saw a small amount of steam 'leaking' from around the rice cookers lid. It's not a deal breaker because the it cooks great still, but none-the-less annoying. (- 1 Star)Overview:If you're longing to get away from toxic non-stick coatings this is a good rice cooker to test out and try. It seems decently priced and very comparable to the rice cookers made by other Asian manufacturers in this price range I've seen on Amazon and in places like H-Mart & Grand Mart.Note: I have not tried the warming feature much, I only let my rice warm 5 minutes after it finished cooking before eating it and usually only make enough for one meal, so never have used this ... but there are special instructions to add a little extra water, I will update my review when I do give this a try to report how it works out, since this is I know a VERY popular feature most families use daily.