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One of the most useful small appliances that you will ever buy is a rice cooker. A rice cooker can do much more than cook rice and is useful in both the kitchen and the dorm room.

Of course rice cookers make perfect rice, but they can also be used for cooking hot cereals, deserts, stews and soups. They can also steam vegetables to perfection, even while cooking rice.

Most people that use rice cookers swear by the ones that are made in Japan. While less expensive brands are available from other countries, the Japanese make the best machines by far.

Rice cookers come in many sizes from the small three to five cup cookers to the giant fourteen plus cup cookers. Choose a rice cooker that corresponds to the amount of rice you normally cook. They work best when used to cook rice at capacity.

Remember that a Japanese cup is only six ounces. Most Americans are more used to an eight ounce cup. To adjust recipes, remember that rice cooker cups are approximately three fourths of an American cup.

In Japan, the favorite size of rice cooker is the five-cup one.

A non-stick cooking pan in the rice cooker makes cleanup very easy. Rice cooker manufacturers use a high quality non-stick surface that works perfectly with rice. Be sure that you only use the plastic rice paddle to remove food from the pot.

When shopping for rice cookers, you will find that there are four basic choices in the type of cooker you choose.

On/off models cook the rice and then turn off automatically. There may not be an indicator light but these inexpensive models are very versatile and do a great job at cooking rice.

The next step up in rice cookers will keep the rice warm when cooking is finished. They do not have a true off position, so be sure that you unplug the cooker when finished. You will need to buy at this level or above to get a rice cooker with a non-stick pan.

The most expensive rice cookers offer fuzzy logic. They have different settings for soup, brown rice, texture of rice and some even offer the setting for sushi rice.

Some of the newest models of rice cookers offer induction heating. They make perfect rice every time and compensate for variations in water or rice measurements and for different types of rice.

If you enjoy steamed vegetables with your rice, be sure that the rice cooker you choose has a steamer basket. You can steam vegetables as the rice cooks. For extra flavor in your rice add a couple of bullion cubes to the cooking water.

If you have a college student who will be living in a dorm room a small (three to four cup) rice cooker is the perfect gift. It allows the student to have rice, steam vegetables and warm soups. It is a great way for the student to have healthy meals and avoid eating only fast food.