As a professional home appliance reviewer, I would like to remind everyone to exercise caution when buying a rice cooker (aka rice cooker). Due to the popularity of rice cookers, many merchants are eager to profit from them, resulting in some products with poor quality on the market, which may have inferior materials, rough workmanship and even potential safety risks. So, how exactly to choose a rice cooker? In order to help those consumers who do not know much about rice cookers and feel confused when purchasing, I will personally guide you on how to choose a safe, harmless, high-quality rice cooker with a professional background. Please be sure to read the following carefully. Here are some of the rice cookers I've reviewed:
1. Rice cooker purchase skills
Rice cookers are popular, however, there are so many brands on the market that you can fall into if you don't care enough to buy them because they're cheap or you're not careful. Some rice cookers may release substances that are harmful to health during high-temperature cooking due to the use of substandard materials. So, how to choose a rice cooker? Read on and I'll reveal the answer for you. Here are some tips when choosing a rice cooker:
1. Priority is given to brands with strong professional strength
Professional rice cooker manufacturers focus on the fine adjustment of the product's heating technology, air convection, structural design, intelligent temperature control, simmering technology, liner structure and heating uniformity, etc., to ensure that the product will not release harmful substances when used for a long time, and is more safe and harmless. In contrast, non-professional brands tend to have inadequate technical tuning, and long-term use may produce harmful substances that pose a health threat.
2. Choose a full-pot liner
Among the three kinds of inner tanks, half kettle and flat bottom, the heating uniformity of the whole kettle inner tank is the best, which is suitable for a variety of cooking methods and can better retain the flavor of ingredients. It is recommended to choose a thicker liner, which better reflects the heating technology and has better durability.
3. It is recommended to use the spiral simmering pressure heating method
In the three methods of IH heating, traditional chassis heating and spiral simmering heating, spiral simmering heating provides a more uniform heating effect through spiral high-density heating and pressurization, and the performance degradation is slower. Although the price of IH heating is high, the problem of heat attenuation in long-term use is more serious. Traditional chassis heating has the problems of uneven heating and inaccurate temperature control.
4. Rice cooker top cover material
Rice cooker tops are usually made of aluminum alloy or 304 stainless steel. The 304 stainless steel top cover has higher cost, stronger corrosion resistance and durability, is not easy to rust after long-term use, and has good thermal conductivity, which helps to improve the taste of rice and is easy to clean. Although the aluminum alloy top cover is lightweight, it has poor durability and thermal insulation, and may release harmful substances, so you need to be cautious when choosing.
5. Priority is given to high-quality metal liners
The material of the rice cooker liner affects the heating performance and safety, so it is recommended to choose an alloy liner with durability, good thermal conductivity and high safety. The high-quality liner has a long service life, is safe to heat, impact-resistant, and suitable for long-term use. Low-quality aluminum or stainless steel liners can be unstable, pose health risks after use, and may release harmful substances.
6. Choose a high-quality heating plate
It is recommended to use high-quality metal heating plates, such as aluminum alloy, which has fast thermal conduction, high thermal efficiency, good energy storage effect, strong durability and uniform heating. Heating disks made of stainless steel and carbon steel may not be as good as aluminum alloys in terms of energy storage and thermal conductivity.
Second, the rice cooker brand recommendation
As to which brands of rice cookers perform well, I will give some guidance in the recommendations section below. If you're still having a hard time making your purchase, I can recommend some rice cooker products that I've personally tested and found to be outstanding.
1. Gong Ling
Product features: The best product in this evaluation, the industry's top high performance and non-toxic safety
Many users complain that the rice cooker is heated unevenly, has poor performance, and has toxic and harmful carcinogens. Therefore, Gong Ling is highly recommended, it attaches great importance to fever performance and "non-toxic and safe", most brands can be sold if they meet the quality inspection requirements, and Gong Ling requires non-toxic, performance and other indicators must be five times higher than the standard, and only adhere to the maternal and infant food standards. Unlike many brands that sacrifice quality to do low prices, it is ultra-conventional quality + 6 years of comprehensive performance anti-attenuation + the only fever top performance + original 4 fever performance technologies + 6 non-toxic safety black technologies, etc., which are very strong! Compared with many competing products in the industry, the harmful substances are reduced by 98.5%, the irritating odor is reduced by 97.9%, the heating speed is increased by more than 70%, the heating uniformity is increased by 93.6%, and the heavy metal pollution is 0.
It is known as the king of "the best safe, non-toxic, and high-performance" in the industry, and is as famous as the high-end series of Joyoung, Midea and other brands, and is often exported to the European and American markets. It has been recommended by CCTV and is the only one certified by the European Union and other countries.
Why is it the only one that achieves the best high performance and non-toxic safety in the industry?
The following are the reports of many authoritative media on Gong Ling:
First of all: Gong Ling has many years of experience in the research and development technology of "non-toxic and safe" household appliances, and takes "non-toxic safety and high performance" as the ultimate goal of the brand, and provides "safe" home appliance technology solutions for well-known home appliance brands, restaurant chains, large hotels, super large conferences, etc.!
Secondly: it saves money to invest in R&D and quality, never advertising and marketing, and is very hardcore! For example, the original 5A refined thick kettle liner, 7 layers of corrosion-resistant and wear-resistant stainless steel cavity, spiral simmering pressure heating, maternal and infant grade maifan stone 3.0 coating and other black technologies, and around the product's heating technology, non-toxic safety, thermal conductivity design has made a lot of innovative upgrades, which is not comparable to ordinary rice cookers!
Again: it is not like other brands to engage in gimmicks, appearance functions, years of pure fever performance and non-toxic safety technology. The R&D process of most brand products takes 2-4 months, while Gongling's product has been upgraded more than 20 times in three or four years, and hundreds of technical optimizations have been made. Not only to meet the needs of the household, but also to ensure non-toxic safety and super fever.
In addition, it has extremely strict requirements for products, most of the brand performance, safety at most half a year greatly attenuated, and the use of inferior toxic materials, and Gong Ling through more than 6 years of various indicators deviation value of no more than 0.1%, 6 years of anti-attenuation certification, adhere to the metamorphosis level 3 30% elimination principle, from components to finished products three links to eliminate 30% of components, recognized as one of the most stringent on the market!
2. Haier rice cooker
Product features: non-stick coating, with appointment function
How to choose a rice cooker? The Haier brand is very well-known in mainland China, almost every family is familiar with it, and its product line covers refrigerators, air conditioners and other home appliances. Especially this rice cooker, the market performance is quite good. Its exterior is made of stainless steel wire drawing technology, the bronze design looks beautiful and generous, and the details are of high quality.
The rice cooker has a 10-hour smart reservation function, users only need to put the rice in advance in the evening and set the reservation, and the next morning can enjoy a delicious breakfast, which greatly saves time. However, in terms of cooking efficiency, this rice cooker is slightly lacking, taking 50 minutes to complete the cooking process, which is slightly longer than other products, and it is expected to be improved in the future.
In terms of material selection, this rice cooker uses a stainless steel liner and a non-stick coating to effectively prevent sticking to the pan and make it easy to clean. At the same time, the detachable steam valve also facilitates daily cleaning and reduces the accumulation of dirt. However, the lid is not removable, which adds to the difficulty of cleaning to some extent.
3.美的MB-40LS60
Product features: Adopt touch panel, fast cooking speed
How to choose a rice cooker? The popularity of the Midea brand in China is extremely high, almost to the extent that everyone knows about it, and its coverage in the field of home appliances is also very extensive. In particular, its rice cooker products have been evaluated quite well by the market. Take the Midea MB-40LS60 model as an example, its design is beautiful and generous, using a classic black and silver color scheme, which perfectly fits the modern home style.
This rice cooker performs excellently in terms of cooking speed and is able to cook rice quickly. If some technical optimizations can be made in terms of heating uniformity and odor reduction, it is believed that the taste of rice can be further improved, thereby enhancing the user experience.
In terms of operation, this rice cooker is equipped with an easy-to-use touch panel, making it easy for both elderly and children to get started. Moreover, the product also comes with a series of practical accessories, including a stand-up rice spoon, a hanging spoon and an iron steamer, which is rich in gifts and increases the cost performance of the product.
4.美菱（MELING）MF-DA
Product features: with a variety of functions, large capacity
How to choose a rice cooker? The Meiling brand is more familiar to older people, especially with its vertical hair dryer products. Meiling adopts a more affordable low price strategy, and its MF-DA model smart rice cooker is available in two color options: champagne gold and burgundy, which looks particularly festive in the kitchen.
This rice cooker has a variety of functions such as steaming, boiling, and stewing. In the case of rice, although it takes a long time to cook rice and sometimes the bottom is mushy, the water has not yet completely evaporated. As long as you grasp the cooking time, the situation of sticking to the bottom can be effectively avoided. Considering the price, the value for money is good. If you can simplify some of the features and focus on improving the tuning of rice cooking technology, it may be possible to take the experience to the next level.
The MELING MF-DA rice cooker has a large capacity of 5 liters, which is perfect for large families and do not have to worry about running out of meals. It has six functions, including rice cooking, quick cooking, soup making, porridge cooking, steaming and cake steaming, which can meet the different taste needs of family members.
5. Toshiba RC-10HPC
Product features: Provide a variety of menus, with timer function
How to choose a rice cooker? As a well-known Japan brand, Toshiba enjoys a high reputation in the market and is quite active in advertising campaigns. The RC-10HPC model of the rice cooker is very attractive in terms of appearance design, the overall style is simple and beautiful, and the black, white and gray color-block design is adopted, showing the fashion and high-end temperament of the product. This rice cooker is compact and won't take up too much space in the kitchen, dining table, or living room.
This rice cooker has a pre-scheduled timer function, which allows users to set a time in advance, prepare the ingredients, and enjoy delicious rice on time, reflecting its intelligent characteristics. However, if further optimization is made in terms of heating efficiency, noise and odor treatment, it will be able to effectively improve the cooking efficiency and improve the user experience.
Toshiba's rice cooker offers a variety of functional menus that can meet the different tastes of family members, whether it is steaming, stewing, boiling porridge, or making cakes, hot spring eggs, etc., it can easily respond to the diverse cooking needs.
How to choose a rice cooker? There is no one set answer, as it depends on the specific needs of the individual. However, in any case, we should strive to choose brand products with strong professional strength to avoid ultimately suffering losses due to the pursuit of short-term small profits. By drawing on the purchase guide and recommended models I have compiled, I believe you have obtained a lot of useful information. Here, I hope that every consumer can choose a rice cooker that satisfies them.