I too qualify as a member of the “not another single purpose appliance!” club, but can’t imagine cooking without a rice cooker. we’ve had a very simple Hitachi (cook/warm/off) for at least a dozen years and use it often for any kind of rice and some other grains (as noted above, takes a little experimentation to get the ratios right). I’ve been thinking about upgrading to one with fuzzy logic and a timer, and the comment above about steel-cut oats may have thrown me over the edge on that one. Our whole family loves them for breakfast, but getting up an hour earlier on a weekday just doesn’t cut it. Also, I understand you can make congee in the fuzzy logic ones, and that’s also high on my list of favorite foods. Anyone ever made congee with brown rice (since I do prefer it to white rice). And yes, I completely agree with the quote at the end of the article!