Best Rice Cooker

- Best rice cooker for a college student?
I'm a college student living in a fairly small dorm, and I'm looking for a small rice cooker mainly for Japanese short-grain rice. What would be the best cooker available for my situation? Thanks for any replies!

A I don't think rice cookers vary all that much, so you'd want to decide by size mostly. Do keep in mind though that there are loads of other things that can be cooked in rice cookers besides rice or even rice-plus-other-things, and having a rice cooker can be great for dorm residents that aren't allow "open" heat appliances. Check some of these out, for example: http://www.google.com/search?q=rice+cooker+recipes http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=rice+cooker+recipes If you decide to go the route of making all kinds of things in your rice cooker, you might want to go for a slightly larger one (most are inexpensive), or one that has an automatic "keep warm" mode, or one that has a sturdier and easier to clean bowl, or that has a steamer basket, etc, though.

- Which brand is the Best Rice Cooker?
There are a few poorly designed rice cookers available, though I think Panasonic had the best, except I can't find any Panasonic Rice cookers, I've looked everywhere. did they go out of business? What is the second best rice cooker available?

A I have a 3 cup White Westinghouse rice cooker. It was inexpensive, and I've had it for several years and never had a problem with it. It is reliable and not too big, which is great for storage. I am completely happy with it. The White Westinghouse brand is sold at KMart and I think WalMart.