I am addicted to Kitchen gadgets. I need to start a podcast or YouTube channel to review them at some point, as half of my garage shelf space is a menagerie of juicers and sous vide devices. The other day, I was thinking about my most used kitchen gadget: What's the one that I go out to the garage for most frequently, and why?

It turns out it isn't one that I store in the plastic dust-blocking bins in the garage. It is something I use almost daily and has now become such an integral part of my diet that I barely even remember it is there.

Enter our Zojirushi Rice Cooker.

Before we had one, I was getting good at cooking my preferred rice ( Mahatma Jasmine ) consistently over the stove. I had the timing down well, and the rice came out solid each time. But now and then, either I left it on a minute too long, used a smaller burner on the stove than usual, or even used a different pot, and the rice came out differently than I wanted it to. The best thing about the Zorjirush is that it is the most consistent machine in our house. It gets used daily, washed, and plugged/unplugged, producing the consistency requested every time. Every time.

Another thing about it that I love is the keep warm feature. Generally, I will have rice for lunch, so while I am cooking breakfast, I will start the rice. The rice generally takes about an hour to cook, and when done, it just sits all nice and warm in its little rice pocket of love, keeping warm until I can get away from my computer to come in there and make a bowl. I have accidentally left it on for over a day and everything was fine. The machine doesn't heat up to any dangerous temperatures and the rice still had a great consistency a day later. The machine will also tell you ( in hours ) how old the cooked rice is.

Cleaning isn't that bad either. There are really only two parts that need to be cleaned: the bowl itself and the top seal. Both can be washed down in about 2 minutes. They are super easy to clean, and there is no stickiness on the bowl to scrub off.

If you are in the market for a rice cooker, I recommend spending what may be a little more money than the cheaper rice cookers and going with the Zojirushi. With all the work that goes into a bowl of rice, buy a good machine.