Aroma Housewares ARC-6206C Professional Digital Rice Cooker & Multicooker with Ceramic Inner Pot, Steam Basket Included, 12-Cup cooked / 4Qt, White

First I will say. It had no smell that I heard people complain about. I removed and washed the inner metal lid and also washed the Ceramic pot prior to cooking rice in it. Seems to have made a difference. Never smelled anything while it cooked. Except the rice smell.The pot is not thin as some comments mentioned. It is thick considering what it is. The rice didn't stick to the pot. The cooking seemed to happen instantly and didn't seem to be different than my old cooker that had a non-stick pot in it. The rice was cooked evenly and no burn spots on bottom.This unit can cook up to 6 cups of dry rice. Meaning it makes about 12 cups of cooked rice. It's smallest cooking quanity is TWO CUPS. I wouldn't try and cook only one cup in it. It probably needs the water for at lest two cups to work properly and not over heat and crack the pot. Not worth the risk! Most medium to large rice cookers require at least two cups or more be cooked in them.Unit is easy to clean. I used it like I have always used rice cookers. I always wait TEN MINUTES after rice is done to eat it. The rice is still cooking and really isn't ready when the chimer rings. This is a rule my Mom had me follow since I was a child. Growing up, the only rice cooker was those single press button Hibachi units with the bell that rang when done. Same noise used on phones these days as the basic chime.Warm mode is 12 hours. You can keep resetting it to prolong it being warm. Older Quality rice pots kept it warm for days. And it never seemed to spoil up to three days. Not sure why but every new model these days seems to only warm 12 or 24 hours. Must be a safety issue from people trying to go too many days and getting sick.I only cook Jasmine White Rice. It turned out perfect. I do wait the extra ten minutes once done to allow the moistures to even out and the rice to complete its cooking.You must press power/start button to turn unit on. Then you select the rice mode. Then press Power/start button again to start cooking.Unit is close to 11" wide at handle pivots (widest point), 15.5" long and 10" tall.The unit works well considering what you pay. I have owned better but I paid $450.00 and that company sold to another Japanese company.. It lasted over ten years and the non-stick is just starting to come off. Parts are not available so I tried this unit. I really didn't want teflon or aluminum pots.I really like this Ceramic pot. Be very careful with it. Getting another one is almost impossible. I looked into getting a spare to have on hand but Aroma was sold out. This pot is slicker and heavier than the traditional metal pots. I can see how one could drop it.Just remember to wash the inner metal lid and the ceramic pot before cooking with it.I am cooking rice in this at 5000 feet in Colorado. I don't think altitude effects the cooking process.After twelve hours the rice at the bottom of the cooker gets weird. Could be why the warm feature only allows 12 hours.If you dont want this to happen, you probably should buy a very high end model that is also offered on Amazon.

I LOVE this rice cooker. I have had a few different rice cookers, because we eat rice every day. This is my favorite! I bought it because it is ceramic, and I don’t want nonstick (I just don’t trust it). It’s easy to clean, cooks delicious rice, and is just as good, if not better, than a nonstick, and far healthier.I read a lot of reviews before buying it, and my main concern was being able to get a replacement bowl if mine chipped or cracked, so I contacted Aroma and they said they do offer replacement bowls on their site, for I think it is $30. So don’t let that worry stop you from getting this cooker. It was the biggest worry I had and I’m glad it’s really nothing I have to worry about.The only thing I don’t like is that it doesn’t keep warm indefinitely. But you can turn it off then hit keep warm and theoretically do that as long as you’d like. But the rice does get hard and crusty quicker than in a nonstick. Which is fine, I shouldn’t leave it in there so long anyway. And that’s not the cooker’s fault anyway, it’s mine for being lazy!I always bought Zojirushi cookers before but now I’m gonna go with Aroma from here on out! I am so grateful they offer an option that isn’t nonstick. I had contacted Zojirushi when deciding on a new cooker, and they said they didn’t plan to make an alternative to nonstick and were real dismissive about it, like it was dumb to worry about. Thanks, Aroma, for being pretty much the only cooker company to offer this fuzzy logic type of rice cooker in something other than nonstick! I cannot tell you how grateful I am for this and your great customer service when I contacted your company about a replacement bowl. You’ve got a customer for life now and I’ll recommend this cooker to any any everyone that will listen!

This is keeper for me, I love it. But I'm not throwing away my Aroma Stainless 10-cup either, read on:The thick liner bowl does not need scrubbing ever. You can burn rice in it, and it won't stick. The bowl is HEAVY. It is the same size as the Aroma 10 cup stainless steel liner, which sticks bad.It says you should not put the bowl in the bottom rack of a dishwasher, but we see no problems doing that (tested). But if you just wipe the bowl out by hand and dry it, it really doesn't need the dishwasher at all. Very quick to clean.It has multi-modes, a delay start, and a warmer function that shuts off after 12h IIRC. After 12 hours the rice was a little hard at the bottom, but was pretty good on top. You add a 1/2 cup of water, stir, then WARM again to extend it.Using Aroma's rice measuring instructions failed me. Not enough water. Use your normal 2:1 water/rice ratio for Basmati and other long grain white rice and it makes PERFECT rice, rinsed or not rinsed.It is well insulated and has a handle to carry the cooker to the dinner table without burning yourself.This cooker makes EXCELLENT rice, try the saffron rice recipe in the booklet, you'll love it (I add 1 tbs of sesame oil to their recipe).Bad features - It takes 35-50 minutes to cook white rice, which is twice the time as our Aroma stainless model.The two little rubber feet can fall out. Superglue them when you get it.It uses a detachable 'computer' style cord that is harder to plug in than most cords. But it also means you can buy a shorter or longer cord, and losing a cord is not a big problem.A retractable cord, glued in feet, and a more powerful heating element would make this an A+, instead of an A-.I would recommend this cooker IF YOU DON'T MIND 45 MINUTE COOK TIMES. I'm getting used it now. But if I'm in a hurry, I pull out the old Aroma Stainless to cut prep time in 1/2.