The best rice cooker for 2026

Capacity (cups): 6 cups (uncooked) / 12 cups (cooked) | Features: Twin pressure cooking (high and soft); 14 menu options including GABA rice, porridge, and scorched rice; nonstick inner pot; auto-clean function; voice navigation in English, Korean, and Chinese | Warranty: 1 year limited | Weight: 12.6 pounds

This higher-end Cuckoo model delivered the best batches for all three grains of rice. Not only did it make damn good rice, it delivered in record time thanks to its pressurized cooking option. The Japanese-style white rice took a mere 29 minutes. The brown rice had a perfectly firm texture, a beautifully nutty flavor and no trace of stickiness — all cooked in just 43 minutes. I used the non-pressurized mode for the basmati round and that still only took 37 minutes. And that was just the presets; you can also customize to your tastes.

But I’ll be honest, I have some reservations about recommending this model. Both the white and brown rice had some crisping on the bottom during my testing. It’s not clear if this is the “melanoizing” effect described in the manual, or just a factor of the high pressure mode. For a half-hour cook time, I can overlook that. For a $260 price tag, I’m less forgiving.

I also ran into some issues of practicality. Like the red Cuckoo Micom model, the lid springs open hard enough to rock the entire unit, and this one was also the most difficult to clean. There are extra rubber gaskets in the lid that have to be thoroughly cleaned and dried before the next use. And the rubber handle for detaching the main lid surface was useless; I had to pry the thing off by the edges. I wouldn’t mind that with a less expensive appliance, but for something this high-end, those little touches make a difference.

Finally, I don’t suggest this model for an average cook because this appliance is downright intimidating. Cuckoo had the most difficult to parse manuals, with some details possibly lost in translation, and its menu settings were oddly convoluted. For instance, I managed to switch the voice alerts to English (yes, there are very chipper and slightly obnoxious voice alerts), but I had to watch a YouTube video to figure out turning them off completely.

So while this was without a doubt my best-performing model purely in terms of food, it demands a lot of its owner. Unless you have serious expectations of your rice, expect to use the machine on a near-daily basis and are willing to tackle the learning curve, this appliance is probably not worth the cost. But if you are that person, you’ll be thrilled with your investment.