Fish, beef and lamb recipes
What we didn’t like about it
Bowl capacity
I wish it had a bigger bowl to make more rice or beans and other grains at a time since I like to batch cook on Sundays for the week. As it is, I could add around three cups of dry rice at a time or the same amount of beans or quinoa. So, the cooker is the perfect appliance for an individual who lives alone, for a couple who dines together or for a small family who cooks daily. But for, say, a large group gathering around the holidays, it will probably require you to use it a couple of times in a row to make enough for four or more people.
Countdown timer
Once the KitchenAid Grain and Rice Cooker finishes weighing the ingredients I place in its bowl, it dispenses the needed amount of water and then its LED screen shows an estimate of how long it needs to cook the food via a white progress bar that moves from left to right at the top of the screen as the food is cooking. The LED screen initially flashes “35 minutes,” or whatever length of time, along with the phrase “Rice cooking” or “Beans cooking” or whatever type of food. But it doesn’t show a countdown timer until there’s 10 minutes left to cook. (See time-lapse video above for an example from when I cooked some rice).
Before that 10-minute mark, though, I could only tell the status of the cooking process when I checked that white progress line at the top of the screen. It would be nice to have a countdown timer continuously showing the cooking time left, even if that amount is an estimation at first.
Bottom line
The KitchenAid Grain and Rice Cooker consistently and reliably measures, adds water, cooks up — and also keeps warm — so many different types of rice, beans and grains that you’ll be putting away your measuring spoons and pots, and reaching for this convenient rice plus grain cooker in one.