Consumer Reports regularly tests rice cookers and multi-cookers. They assign scores on a point system of 1 to 5. A rating of 4 means Very Good and a rating of 5 is Excellent.
About rice cookers, CR states: “None of these machines were an all-out fail. Even the ones that ended up at the bottom of the ratings still make rice better than a multi-cooker.” But this statement is confusing because out of all the models they tested, no programmable “rice cooker” received an “excellent” score, while some multi-cookers were awarded 5 for rice mode.
Rice Cookers: CR’s highest-rated programmable rice cookers, scoring 4 out of 5 for “rice cooking” are:
Zojirushi NP-GBC05 Induction Heating System — check price
Instant Pot Zest 8-cup Rice Cooker — check price
Hamilton Beach Cooker and Steamer 37519/37518 — check price
Aroma ARC-954SBD — check price
Note, CR gives the non-programmable Zojirushi NHS-06 a score of 5 for rice cooking.
Multicookers: The highest-rated recommended multicookers that also scored well for rice cooking are:
Breville Fast Slow Pro 6 qt. BPR700BSS — this appliance scores 5/5 for all cooking modes tested: rice, pressure, slow, and steam
Zavor LUX LCD ZSELL02, 4- 6- and 8-quart models available — this appliance is actually rated 1 point higher than the Breville, yet scored 4/5 for rice mode — check price
Instant Pot Max 6Qt. — 4/5 for rice mode — check price
A slow cooker that can make rice is the DeLonghi Livenza Programmable CKM1641D (4/5 for both rice and slow cook modes).