The included steam tray saves time and provides healthy food for you and your loved ones.

The Quick Rice function can take 50% of your cooking time.

Thanks to the delay timer you can set the time in the morning at what time your rice must be ready in the evening.

The inner cooking pot is easy to remove and even very easy to clean.

With a lot of extra’s to get you started right away.

Our quest for a good quality, midsized affordable rice cooker, led us to a certain Aroma ARC-914SBD, Digital Rice Cooker/Food Steamer.

We are big Aroma Housewares fans here. Their rice cookers are some of the best in the market and they have earned our love.

Having used the relatively smaller Aroma ARC-363- 1NGB, we felt it wise to upgrade to a midsize rice cooker capable of carrying at least 8 cups of cooked rice.

Most rice cookers in the market actually are in the 6 cups to 10 cups of cooked rice range and this means that you have quite a range to choose from. With such a large collection comes the dilemma of getting something that perfectly fits your needs and budget.

Although a lot of the other brand’s rice cookers in this category claim to be high quality, very few actually make the cut as far as we are concerned.

Majority of the cookers are either too costly, are not effective enough in cooking rice or miss some basic functionalities of a basic rice cooker.

In the Aroma ARC-914SBD, Digital Rice Cooker/Food Steamer though, you have a compact, midsized rice cooker with multiple functionalities, generous capacity, an innovative design, great usability and consistency in cooking meals.

It is not surprising therefore that we fell in love with this cooker and decided to test it and provide an honest review of the same to help you make a more informed decision when shopping for your next rice cooker.

Here is our review of the Aroma ARC-914SBD, Digital Rice Cooker/Food Steamer;

Features

Any good rice cooker needs a combination of both software and hardware designed to automate the process of cooking rice while ensuring that there is consistency in the meal cooked every single time.

The hardware should be durable and work under the instructions of the software to make the entire process of using the rice cooker easy and fun.

So, what features of the Aroma ARC-914SBD, Digital Rice Cooker/Food Steamer makes it ideal for any household?

Easy to use programmable digital controls
The digital controls of any rice cooker are the heart of the cooker. They dictate the functionality of the cooker, the usability of the rice cooker and the type of foods that you can cook in that cooker. The more the functionalities of the cooker, the higher its ratings.

The Aroma ARC-914SBD, Digital Rice Cooker/Food Steamer has a digital easy to use and programmable microcontroller which has a host of functionalities. The one-touch controls on the side of the cooker are carefully laid out for easy use and accessibility at all times.

The functionalities available on the rice cooker include white rice, brown rice, keep warm, steam, delay timer and flash rice.

The white and brown rice are self-explanatory. The only difference between the two settings is the amount of time that each takes to cook.

The steam option is used to facilitate steaming of stews while the rice cooks underneath. Pressing the steam option increases the amount of steam propagated to the stew cooking above.

Keep warm option
The keep warm option keeps the food warm long after it has finished cooking. The cooker will always automatically switch to this option immediately after the food has finished cooking. It will ensure that the food is warm up until the moment you decide to serve it to your guests.

Delay Timer
The delay timer also comes in handy as it affords you the flexibility to set the cooker to start cooking the rice on delayed time. Using the LED display on the controller, you can set the delay timer in such a way that the rice can start cooking exactly when you want it to start cooking.

Flash Rice function
The flash rice function is a revolutionary one, because it ideally is what differentiated this cooker from the average cookers in the market.

Pressing the flash rice function will get your rice cooked in record time. This feature reduces the amount of time taken to cook rice by more than half.

Brown rice that averages about 40 minutes will be ready in about 18 minutes without jeopardizing with the quality of the rice being cooked.

The flash rice function comes in handy to people who are always on the go and don’t have enough time to wait for the rice to cook for an hour or so.

The other rice cooker that we reviewed which has a similar function, is the ARC-150SB and you can check it out too to get a better understanding of the flash rice function.

On/Off button
Finally, there is the on and off button on the controller. This might look like a simple basic requirement on any appliance but it is not common in many rice cookers.

A lot of rice cookers don’t have the on/off button. They start working from the moment you plug them in and the only way to switch them off, is to unplug again.
This is pretty tedious and the on/off button comes in handy therefore.

Nonstick cooking pot
The Aroma ARC-914SBD Rice Cooker/Food Steamer has a removable nonstick cooking pot. The nonstick cooking pot is made from high-grade metal and is highly durable.

The pot is easily removable for easy cleaning of the interior of the rice cooker and the pot itself.

Steaming tray
Above the cooking pot, lies a steaming plate. The spacious steaming tray is capable of holding sufficient stew to serve together with the rice below at any one point.

From veggies, meat stew, poultry to fish, there is literally no stew that you can’t steam on this streaming tray.

Design and capacity of the Aroma ARC-914SBD Rice Cooker/Food Steamer

The Aroma ARC-914SBD Rice Cooker/Food Steamer is designed to carry anything from 2 to 8 cups of cooked rice. This makes it ideal for a family of 2 to 4 who intend to get a rice cooker for both indoor and outdoor use.

As for the design, the Aroma ARC-914SBD Rice Cooker/Food Steamer dons a rather conventional rice cooker look.

The one thing that differentiates this cooker from the others, is the arching handle on the lid with the latching mechanism on the side. The lid is afforded a groove under it for ergonomics when handling it and to make it easy to carry the cooker from place to place.

The black cylindrical exterior is made from stainless steel which is silver in color. The black lid blends in with the silver exterior giving this cooker a distinct look.

It is important to note that however much you wash the exterior of the cooker, it does not lose its luster and will always be shiny.

Usability and cooking abilities of the Aroma ARC-914SBD Rice Cooker/Food Steamer

The labeling of the buttons on the control unit makes it very easy for anyone to control the Aroma ARC-914SBD Rice Cooker/Food Steamer. Its usage is pretty straightforward and as long as you know what you want to cook, it shouldn’t be hard to set it up and cook whatever you want to cook.

As for the cooking ability, this is one of the most effective rice cookers we have ever tried. The rice cooker consistently produces good quality fluffy rice whenever called upon.

Irrespective of the meal that you intend to cook in this cooker, you can rest assured that the cooker will conjure up nothing but the best rice.

Safety of the Aroma ARC-914SBD Rice Cooker/Food Steamer

There are no spillages, no spluttering of cooking rice, the exterior remains cold all through and it’s very hard to topple the rice cooker over.

The plastic parts used to make the cooker are also BPA free, which makes it safe for cooking food.

It is also certified by the relevant bodies and you can, therefore, use it in your kitchen without worrying about your safety.

Pros and cons of the Aroma ARC-914SBD Rice Cooker/Food Steamer

Overall verdict

This is a midsized rice cooker which impressed us a lot. If you are looking for something to carry about 8 cups of rice, then the Aroma ARC-914SBD Rice Cooker/Food Steamer is worth considering.

If you are however looking for something slightly bigger but with almost the same capabilities, then you can consider the Aroma ARC-616SB which carries 12 cups of cooked rice.

Please read all our reviews so you can make a more informed decision, if you are looking for a rice cooker at the moment.

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