TL;DR: Buy this, it’s amazing. There’s no need to buy a fancier model, this makes perfect rice, is simple, is inexpensive, and does not take up much room. As someone with extensive experience in the kitchen, both professionally and at home, I cannot imagine anything simpler to cook than rice. There are only 2 ingredients, rice & water and it's not very complicated. With so many appliances in my kitchen, why bother with another thing to buy, use once, and take up storage space? I have enough gadgets that seemed great on paper (air fryers, bread makers, etc.) which did not do the job as well as I could do using traditional methods, and which were often difficult to clean and maintain. So, a rice cooker? A machine to replace the easiest food in the world to cook? Why? My wife had suggested one, after all, all of the restaurants that served rice used them. But, I explained (probably incorrectly) they need to make a LOT of rice; we don't, and that's probably why they use them. Then I came across an article in one of my favorite food magazines, where they test products and came across their review of rice cookers. This rice cooker received the highest rating and was the least expensive of all their tests (and this is a serious chef's magazine, not supported by advertising; their reviews are spot-on and unbiased). And so, I bit the bullet and thought that if it was garbage, I'd just toss it, it was inexpensive enough. As soon as I got this, I wanted to use it and prove to my wife why it was a waste of money and space, and how even a review from an almost always dependable magazine, could be wrong, Of course, I tried some basmati rice because I knew that there was no way that I was going to get fluffy rice with discrete, pieces of rice not stuck together. Once more I would show her who was right. Wrong. After about 33 minutes when the machine said that the rice was done, I opened the lid and, behold, it was perfect! Each grain of rice was perfectly cooked, separate from all the other grains, flowable, and it was the same from the top of the pot to the bottom. Amazing and impressive. Then I decided that the time/temperature etc. of this gadget must have been designed for basmati rice, let's try some short-grain sticky rice for sushi. Damn, how does it know? Again, perfect. I'm now a believer, I admit I was very wrong, and the answer to who needs a rice cooker is: I do and You do. - This machine cleans up beautifully, it leaves no rice on the bottom of the pot. - It is simple to use. - It cooks rice perfectly My only issue with it is, as per the attached photos, it is very difficult to see the water line markings on the inside of the pot. This machine is too good, however, to deduct any points for that. Two things to point out: 1) The cup that it comes with equals 3/4 of a dry cup measure. It says that in the instructions but on the cup itself, there is a 3/4 full mark. That's a bit confusing but, the measuring cup is 3/4 cup when it is filled to the top. If you fill it to the 3/4 mark, you're weighing out 3/4 of a cup (or a little over 1/2 of a regular cup) so just fill it to the brim. 2) There is a steam vent on the lid. It's probably not best to place this under a cabinet; condensation will form on the underside of the cabinet and drip or, worse, penetrate the cabinet wood and get moldy. Keep it in a position so that the vent is clear of anything above it. I highly recommend, despite my previous insistence that nobody needs a rice cooker, this machine. It's amazing. Review of: Aroma Housewares 2-8-Cups (Cooked) Digital Cool-Touch Rice Grain Cooker and Food Steamer