Steamer Reviews

I am glad that Amazon stopped selling this rice cooker. And I wish they had done so before I purchaed this rice cooker.
This rice cooker will give you scorched rice (What we call "okoge" in Japanese) at the bottom everytime I cook rice with it.
I e-mailed Sanyo about this and received no reply.
I will buy Zojirushi next time.

I must have looked at over 50 different rice cookers prior to selecting this model. The retractable cord is a definite plus, as is the fuzzy-logic feature.

I've used it for several differents types of rice, from white to brown, and it works with basmati rice as well. I've even made some terrific rice balls and sushi using sushi rice.

For 2 or 3 people, or if your family aren't big rice eaters, the small size is great. I've made two batches using different types of rice one right after the other and have had no problems. I haven't tried the porridge feature.....yet....but I will! ;-)

I'm definitely pleased with this purchase.

I could not believe the sheer ignorance of the reviewer from Grosse Pointe Farms (gross point-my point exactly) who rated everything except the product itself!

Criticized the manual of all things, and proved that he/she is either very young, terribly naive, or both. Hello, person! These cookers are sold worldwide. Yes, in Britian as well as other countries, you can buy Porridge. In Asia and all over the world, including America, you can purchase Glutinous Rice including in my very diverse neighborhood in Northern California. Sheltered perhaps??

Common sense tells one that it would take more time to cook more rice and less time for less rice. That cooking times vary due to climate and/or altitude. That different varieties require different cooking time. And guess what? Voltages do fluctuate. Thus the "ranges".

Just because you are not terribly "worldly" (which one need not be to be familiar with these products), does not give you carte blanche to degrade a product,which, by the way, appears to be more sophisticated than its purchaser.
"(...).

I will happily translate the manual into Anglo if that was the only reason you could come up with to rate a great product with only 1 star.

This is a fantastic product, and I am very pleased to have this as an addition to my kitchen. Potential buyers will not be disappointed.

The included "Operating Instructions" are a joke and practically useless.
It does cook absolutely perfect rice,
BUT cleaning is a pain:

1) The inner pan has a rolled rim which catches and retains water when washing it. Don't put the pan back in the cooker unless you are sure that there is no trapped water left in the rim for dripping into the main body and onto the cooking plate.
2) One needs to also clean the dew collector and the steam vent apart from wiping down the inner main body rim from the liquid that does not reach the dew collector. Instructions tell to not remove the reverse stopper valve when cleaning the vent assembly: I did not intend to remove this stopper valve - it just fell out under a gentle stream of warm water from my faucet...Don't loose it - down the drain!
3) The stationary lid needs wiping + cleaning ASAP, otherwise one collects additional grime [See 4)].
4) Be aware that the area between the steam vent + the slots in the lid does trap really nasty stuff you can't see nor reach easily when cleaning. Pay attention to these hard to reach nooks and crannies....
5) It's easy to miss the moment when the unit switches to the "keep warm" feature, - the click is barely audible, unless you stand next to it. As the recommended 15 minutes of steaming are essential for a good result, it is disappointing that you need to keep watching the unit visually for light changes. Am I asking for too much if I'd prefer a louder click or even a ring?

Saving grace: It does produce the most delicious and perfect rice.
My next rice cooker will again be a "simple" version with a glass lid + less extra parts to clean.

first off, the instruction manual is pretty worthless: in order to make delicious, fluffy rice rinse, soak the rice for 15 minutes and keep closed for 15 minutes after cook cycle. i used this method with some nishiki brand rice and it came out very good except that the entire bottom layer of rice became one dry flaky crust, getting more brown towards the center. i cooked basmati in a similar fashion and all the grains turned out very dry and the bottom was flaky just like the nishiki. by the way, the results are from cooking several 1-2 cup batches of nishiki and 2 batches of 1 cup of basmati.

i think this rice cooker design needs some work...better instructions at the very least and a thicker pot/distributed heat source would make probably make a difference with the browning issue.

I had a problem with delivery where the first unit arrived with a bashed in product box, and the second arrived without even being double boxed. However, I'm happy with the product, and it makes good rice, and the keep warm function works well too.

I love this steamer! I have used it for vegetables, rice, hard-boiled eggs, and making my own babyfood! I started out keeping it in a cabinet, but I found I use it so often, I moved it out onto my countertop. I have already recommended this product to several friends, and now I am buying one for someone as a gift. It makes perfect rice everytime. I love the timer. It comes with a wonderful guide for ideas and recommended cook-times. The herb/spice flavor scenter is an added bonus. This is the best purchase I have made for my kitchen in a long time, and my family is eating healthier now because of it.

I have owned my Black and Decker steamer for almost three years and I can say that I have been happy with it for that entire time. I have been most pleased with the quality of the machine itself (mine has never had a problem or malfunction), but there are several other features I appreciate too.

1. The manual that came with mine has a very extensive chart of various foods and how long each needs to cook in the steamer (this is most helpful!). I primarily use my steamer for vegetables such as asparagus, brussels sprouts, green beans, carrots, red potatoes, and corn on the cob. Although B&D boasts it as a possibility, I have never used my steamer for rice because I do not see how piles of rice would/could cook evenly! I have also never felt the need to try the fish recipe included in the manual because I didn't want my kitchen, or the plastic parts of this appliance to retain a "fishy" smell.

2. I also agree with the previous reviewer who states that this appliance is a snap to clean. In most cases all it needs is a thorough rinsing under very hot water and then a wipe down. When I first purchased this steamer I lived in the country and had fairly hard water (high mineral content) which caused a bit of a lime build up on the heating element of the steamer. My worries about this have proven to be needless as I have now owned it many years and these occasional mineral buildups on the heating element do eventually fall away as you wash it after use.

3. The model I have is the same in every way as the one being sold with the exception that mine comes with a stacking ring and another steamer basket so that you can actually steam two different foods at the same time. I paid nearly twice the price that Amazon is currently offering for a single basket steamer though, and if I were doing it all over again, I would opt for just the single basket model.

I highly recommend this purchase as a quality product at a great price with the added benefit of enabling you to eat more healthy foods.

I recieved this product for Christmas in 1997, and it still works like a charm today. This is an absolute must-have kitchen appliance for a first apartment.

Having a number of All Clad products in my kitchen, I was excited to see this stockpot at such a low "close out" price. When it arrived, I was somewhat disappointed to see that it is not the same construction or quality as the other All Clad cookware that I have. When I ordered it, I wondered why this 12 qt pot was priced so much less than other smaller stockpots (and about 1/3 the price of the All Clad pasta cooker), and now I know - this "multi cooker" was not made in the U.S., it was made in China (as is the Emerilware). It seems deceptive (and is disappointing) that this bears the exact same label as the U.S. product and the description gives no indication that it is anything less than the same U.S. made All Clad, which is well known to many of us. However, in fairness, I need to say that priced at under [$$$], this is still one heck of a pot that I will enjoy using, but just be aware that it is a different quality of All Clad cookware.

I'm always amazed at reviews that express shock or disappointment at the product. This is because Amazon does a great job with being clear and up front on items...especially all-clad.
This item is a particular value. I found it to be as good as most of my all-clad collection, and having the same sturdy construction. Considering the lid, the pot, the two baskets, I regard this not simply as a quality item, but an exceptional value too.
It may not be great for a lobster bake, but for soups, stock, pasta, shellfish like mussels or clams, shrimp...it is a hit. Best of all, there is no obligation to keep a product you don't like.
I think this will be one of the pieces I use most frequently.

It is true that this stockpot is differently constructed if compared to the ususal all clad stockpot. But there is a reason for it. It is made to be used for pasta kind of cooking. It is not usefull to have very thick steel on sides for these type of cooking uses. For other purpose, you want to have as even heat distribution as you can using steel thickness to acheive distribution of heat.

The bottom is ULTRA THICK and it is solid and heavy.

Overall I consider I made a very good purchase.

I, too, bought this cooker at Target believing it was a fryer and was disappointed that the instructions noted it was NOT a fryer. Unable to find anything I liked better (the plastic machines seem flimsy and clunky), I took the advice of the last reviewer and tried it as a deep-fryer for tofu and eggrolls. It works! The thermostat seems reliable, and it heats up quickly enough. Plus, it's dishwasher-safe and nonstick. The only disappointments include the fry-basket, which isn't optimum for draining oil and is awkward to handle with a removable pinch-handle-- but I improvised with tongs. And it would be nice to have an airtight lid to store the oil-- but the glass one does just fine if you change the oil occasionally. As someone who usually avoids frying foods for health reasons, this little pot allows me to cook the few fried goods I'd normally go out for as well, or even better, than how I'd get them at a restaurant-- and it makes my "it-ain't-good-unless-it's-fried" husband feel like he's got a place in the kitchen.

I have been using a Fry Daddy for a few years and wanted something that would go into the dishwasher. This is a great multi-cooker. I have the older version of the same appliance so I am using this one strictly as a deep fat fryer. The instructions said NOT to deep fry in it but it works just fine. I live alone and don't need something big and this is just the right size for me. It would be nice to have a plastic cover for it but I like the clear glass lid. The basket is okay also. I can use it in the older model as well. Cooking dried beans in it takes less time and electricity. Thanks, Presto!

I dont want to say too much, but it is really great!

Maybe "A customer from CLEVELAND, OH" was trying to cook more than one ostrich egg, because this thing has lots of room - as any 3qt pot will - for MANY normal sized chicken eggs. This thing is for steaming, anyway!

This is a great steamer. The only thing I don't like about it is the lack of a longer handle to stay cool away from the flame/burner. The small handles on this thing get very hot, and after cooking my ostrich eggs I have never been able to grab it off the stove without pot holders. High quality, definitely worth the price.

I have owned this pot for less than a year. It is a perfect size for steaming veggies for 3 or 4 people and it does a nice job of it. I use it a lot. It will hold much more than one chicken's egg! I like the handle design BUT I am very disappointed that one of the handles actually has a large piece chipped off of it. I never expected this to happen. This is why I gave it 4 stars instead of 5. Also, the finish is difficult to keep nice looking. Water seems to "stain" it. However, this is not a priority for me.

This is a great size pot!! It fits nicely in my cluttered cabinet! The pot is light in weight, even with the steamer insert, but it is not flimsy and is well made. The handles stay cool and the lid seals on nicely. Great for steaming vegetables, preparing rice dishes and any other recipe where a larger pot & steamer would be inappropriate.

I have three types of flooring; vinyl, sealed wood and tile. This steamer does a fantastic job on all of them. Some people note a dulling of the surface of shiny vinyl; this is true, but since I have cats and their litter box in the laundry room with the vinyl floor, cleanliness is better than shine, any day. The steamer works well on tile, very well. The floors seem to stay cleaner than if wet-mopped. I also like the fact I can wash the cover (the "magic cloth" waffle weave cloth that fits over the bottom.) Some people note that the cloths wear out; hint--don't bother to throw the washed cover in the dryer. It will fit better over the mop and last longer.

Points off for the cloths being expensive and a bit hard to find, if you want spares. And a point off for it needing refilling, at least on large expanses of floors. Other than that, this is a great way to clean and sanitize the floors. I like it a lot.

I hate to clean, especially the floors in my bathroom and kitchen. The mop, the buckets, the dragging around from room to room: yuck! But I absolutely like clean floors and can't convince any one else to do them for me. My hairdresser was using this one day on her cutting room floor and I was amazed at how clean the floor was and effortless it was to use the steamer. I shopped around for comparison, but this is the only of its kind on the market now at an affordable price. I highly recommend it and am even considering the smaller one for counters and such. It cleans both my bath and kitchen in under five minutes and they dry immediately.

I detested cleaning the kitchen floor. I have tried numerous mops and sweepers and they have all failed me. They are messy and ultimately just end up pushing dirty water around the kitchen floor. After giving up on mops, I tried the old fashioned way of scrubbing on my hands and knees. This got the floor clean, but it took forever and was hard on my knees. I would also immediately dry each section I had scrubbed with paper towels. I used an entire roll everytime I cleaned the floors. I did this for years.
About four months ago I purchased the Eureka Enviro Steamer. I was a bit skeptical, after all, clean with just water and no detergent? It looked a bit like an electric mop..I hate mops!! I decided to take leap of faith and try it anyway, after all, if I didn't like it I could always return it.
I must say it is remarkable. It gets my floor fabulously clean, even in most hard to reach spots and yes, just using water (very little water at that). You still need to thoroughly sweep your floor first, but you have to do that before washing the floor anyway. What used to take me nearly an hour and a half (kitchen, laundry room and hallway)is now done in about 20 minutes. No mess, no paper towels, no detergent, no sore knees, no wasted time. Just wonderfully clean floors!!
I have tried alot of cleaning gadgets and products and this one definately rates among the top three I still own (...). I like this steamer so much I am now looking into a handheld steamer for cleaning the bathroom, windows, blinds and upholstered furniture. I am now a steam/vapor cleaning convert and will never go back to traditional cleaing methods again.

This 6-Cup rice cooker makes excellent rice and does it easily and in a predictable fashion. However, I found the rice-cooking instructions to be useless and the markings on the cooker difficult to see. Instead, I measure rice and water in a measuring cup according to rice package instructions, and fluff rice after just 5 minutes steaming (instead of suggested 15 minutes). This earlier fluffing seems to reduce crusting. A power switch seems logical, but isn't provided. Easy to clean and a nice size for a small family. I have no regrets. Buy one now!

This rice cooker makes perfect rice, clean-up is a breeze, & the "Keep Warm" setting is great.

I usually cook store-brand long-grain white rice, & I do not rinse it before cooking. I have experienced no problems with excess moisture or "spitting" or any other problems. However, I do feel the need to point out that I do not use the amount of rice & water specified in the rice cooker manual. If you get the rice/water ratio correct, this rice cooker will make perfect rice. If you follow the directions in the manual & find that the rice doesn't cook properly, you need to experiment around with the proportions of rice & water until you find what works for you.

Because the manual is not that great, I can't give this appliance a 5-star rating. The manual only contains a couple of recipes, & there are no instructions regarding how to cook American-grown rice that doesn't need to be rinsed or about how to cook packaged rice mixes.

Nice looking, compact and light, yet very efficient and reliable. Rice turns out perfect every time with no burnt or brown remnants at the bottom. The extra money spent on this is well worth every penny. I've purchased other small-type models in the past that were much less expensive, but they weren't worth it in the end. You just can't beat a Zojirushi. I'm glad I bought it! I highly recommend this.

I mostly like this steamer; its shape allow steaming of larger items than round steamers of similar capacity, and it heats up and starts steaming quickly. The two tiers work nicely. It's great being able to fill it with water while it's still steaming.

However, I have two complaints:

First, the water-input lid is hard to use, with a tiny plastic nubbin intended as a handle but it can't be gripped at all. When refilling this steamer expect to include the step of dropping the lid, because it's not attached to the steamer.

Second, the timer can't be turned backwards. If you put in your broccoli and set it for 40 minutes, and then realize you only wanted to cook it for 10 minutes, you're out of luck. You'll have to either set a separate timer to know when to unplug the steamer, or wait 30 minutes before putting the broccoli in. This is just bad design. I've had other, cheaper steamers that didn't have this annoying lack-of-feature.

I'm not a raw veggie lover, but since I found this steamer VERY easy to use, I now eat ALL veggies. I did guess work with the timer at first....and when it was done, if I wanted softer veggies, I just turned the timer on again for a few more minutes. It does not take long to learn what to set the timer to after that. Every person I've had over for dinner raves about how good the veggies are! HEY, what about my other foods? I have not cooked rice in it yet. I am actually buying this for a gift today. Yes, for one of my dinner guests who never steamed veggies! It is that easy to use.

We've had two of these over the course of 4 years, which might not sound good, but we use it literally every single night, so that's over 700 uses at the max 1 hour setting for each unit. And the steamer itself still works after that time, but the plastic in the bottom-tier tub starts to break down and come apart, and it's as inexpensive to buy a new steamer as a new tub...

I agree with another user's comment that the timer can't be turned backward and this is annoying. We only use it for rice however, and so we always turn the dial all the way around. We chose this steamer over conventional rice steamers because we *didn't* want it to keep the rice warm - it just shuts off. (We make rice every night before going to bed for our dogs' food - don't ask!) We haven't used it for veggies, so can't comment on the performance there, but it does a fine job on rice. Though it does take an hour, much longer than stove-top or dedicated rice-steamers. But for us it's a set-it and forget-it type of thing.

I had been drooling over this for a year or so from the infomercials and finally broke down and bought it. It did not do what they said AT ALL! I mostly bought it because I wanted to be able to cook meat from frozen as I tend to forget to lay something out and end up eating out which gets expensive for a family of four. Well, with this I end up throwing out the food and eating out anyways. It will NOT cook your food from frozen without leaving the center frozen and the outside charred. I have regular pans that aren't the size of my stove that I can cook thawed meals in I was hoping for something I could cook frozen meals in. It is also very big and time comsuming with having to add water, open/shut valves, and turn food over every couple of minutes. Definately not worth the money.

My husband and one of my sons have seen the Turbo Cooker advertised on TV and begged me to get one for over a year now. One day they were shopping at the mall and found this in a store. They came home with it. I thought this was going to be one of those things he brought home and I hated. That night they put in the video that comes with it. The next AM my son got up early, to cook the breakfast pizza. We used it for lunch that day, and then for dinner and even made the cake for dessert. I have to say, it is one of the best gadgets he has ever brought home. The recipes are easy, fast, and don't require a lot of ingredients you wouldn't normally use. We have saved a ton of money since we don't eat out as much now. Not to mention in one week, I lost 5 pounds and I am not hungry! My sons wouldn't eat fish before, and now they love it after having it from the Turbo cooker. I am going to get one for all 3 of my married daughters for Christmas. At the price on Amazon, which is the cheapest I have seen, it's worth EVERY penny!...

I love my pan. In under 20 minutes I can have a delicious, healthy meal, ready to serve. There is even a Yahoo group (just search in Yahoo groups under Turbo Cooker), that has hundreds of recipes their members have come up with for the TC. That was a concern I had when I bought mine, but now I'll never be at a loss for a recipe. I bought my TC in a Target store and as like I have read here, it was missing the springform pan. I've read reviews here that said customer service was bad and they couldn't get a toll free number. First of all the toll free number is at the end of the video. Second, all I had to do was go to the T.C. website and send an email to customerservice@chefrandall.com and in one day I got an email back which said .....If you provide me with the name and address, I will gladly send you out the replacement part for your Turbo Cooker. Now that is what I call great customer service.