Panasonic SR-3NA Automatic 1.5 Cup (Uncooked) Rice Cooker

Perfect
Although I've only owned this cooker for a lil over a month, I feel qualified to speak to it's usefulness. A bit pricey for the capacity, it's effectiveness can't be overstated. For family of 3 or less this cooker makes plenty of rice. I especially like that it can make one serving of rice fairly quickly. No fancy electronics, just a plain timed cooker. Mix the rice and water (or stock), flip the switch and when it turns off you have perfect rice. I found domestic packaged rice like Uncle Ben's to need proportions of 1:1 water to rice. Imported sticky rice from India or Asia needs a lil less water, like .8:1. You'll find the proportions you need. I hope this cooker lasts longer than at least one reviewer claimed. Once outside the warranty period, if the timer fails (I'm sure it uses a simple bi-metal timer), I just wire in a cheap electronic timer from Radio Shack.

perfect for travel
i am a flight attendant. most of the time there is no meal service. also, we are runing from plane to plane no time to stop and get a hot meal. also, it's get expensive. room service is over-priced, and it's the same old stuff at every hotel. with this little work horse i can bring food from home and heat it up so i can have a hot meal. i have used it to heat up more than rice. i use it for soup, chili, oatmeal, even left over pasta with sauce. this may sound expensive, but will pay for itself if you use it as often as i do.

Worth its weight in gold for a single person
I've owned this rice cooker for around seven years. I live alone and I eat a lot of rice, so having a small rice cooker is the perfect thing for me. It's not fancy, and there are no bells and whistles. It just does what it's supposed to, and that's cooking up small quantities of perfect rice.

I'd estimate that I've used this rice cooker between 500 and 1000 times, and I haven't been terribly gentle with it-- I put the bowl in the dishwasher, and I use metal spoons on it. The nonstick coating is starting to show its age, and I'm thinking about replacing the bowl. This strikes me as a perfectly reasonable life expectancy for a nonstick surface that hasn't been cared for. In fact, it's excellent.

My only complaint is that it's more expensive than smaller rice cookers of similar function. It's worth the price, though, if it's the right size for you.

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