Zojirushi NP-NVC18 Induction Heating Pressure Cooker and Warmer, 10 Cups, Stainless Brown, Made in Japan

12/2022 updateI’ve owned this machine now since 2018, and it’s still in pristine condition, and still produces the highest quality rice.From my experience, you MUST use “gentle” cleaning products - abrasives will quickly destroy the non-stick surface of the pot. There’s never been a need to use harsh cleaning materials or chemicals anyway - never had an issue with delaminating or rice sticking to the bowl.As I said earlier - a thorough scrubbing is a MUST after every cook; rice is a grain, and biodegradable; if you don’t thoroughly clean the seals and vents the the rice solids that disperse as aerosols via steam will begin to decay, causing that unpleasant “sour” smell so many have complained about. It doesn’t take long or much effort! Though I still maintain that the manufacturer could have made the seals removable for easier cleanup, they’re fairly easy to clean thoroughly as-is. We’ve used this rice cooker so often now that we’ve got the clean-up part down to about 5 minutes max.We cook mainly brown rice, but have made our fair share of white rice as well. The quality of the rice is such that we’re always called upon to make the rice for all the family/friends gatherings we attend. And that’s saying something, since our core friends group are Filipino, Japanese, and Chinese folks - people who have grown up with rice as their staple food, and are pretty finicky about rice.I’m an American born and raised in Michigan, and someone that knew NOTHING about rice. My wife is Filipina - someone who grew up eating rice with every meal. As clueless as I was about rice, even I could tell the rice made in conventional rice cookers was over cooked and nearly mush at the bottom, while severely undercooked and hard kernels at the top. With this device, the combination of induction and pressure produce evenly cooked rice every time. Following the suggested measures of rice and water will produce excellent rice, but real experts (like my Pinot wife) know how to vary those proportions to produce exceptional rice. So, yeah - this Michigan farm-boy has learned how to appreciate really good rice, and it’s something we consume every day. Heck - I’d rather have rice than mashed potato’s now. And that mainly due to having a REALLY good rice cooker.**Original Review**Right at the start, this machine produces the best rice I've ever made. White rice or Brown, it came out nearly perfect on every try. We eat a lot of Brown rice in our home, and our previous device had that layer of mushy rice at the bottom where it also stuck to the pot, while the upper layers weren't fully cooked. This unit produces rice that's evenly cooked throughout. The Gaba Brown rice setting seems to perform as promised, producing more tender, sweeter rice than the normal Brown setting. The widely nuanced white rice settings also perform as advertised.This is my first induction rice cooker, and I have to say it's impressive. The fact that this model also produces pressure to evenly cook rice makes it even more impressive. When reviewing the finished rice produced by this model, it'd be 10 stars, if that were an option - it's that good.Cleaning, though, not so much. The inner lid does come out, which makes it easier to clean, but other than the filter cover, you can't disassemble anything to clean around the sealing ring, or the pressure valves. I find I have to spend a lot of time handwashing the tiny nooks, crannies, and crevices on the inner lid. The rubber sealing gasket on the inner lid does NOT come off for cleaning under it. The inner side of the outer lid gets pretty dirty, especially with the Gaba Brown setting, but nothing on the inner side of the outer lid can be disassembled; you have to wash that in place on the machine by hand after each use. It also has a rubber sealing gasket that cannot be removed for easier cleaning. The steam vent on the outer side of the outer lid comes off for cleaning in the sink. The owner's manual describes using bamboo sticks to remove rice/food particles from the lids, especially if you begin to notice a bad smell coming from the device. I happen to have the bamboo sticks (skewers), but holy crap! It just strikes me that the device could have been designed to at least allow one to remove things like rubber gaskets for easier cleaning.Several reviewers talked about the lining peeling from the cooking pot. For that reason, I wouldn't use anything stronger than a non-abrasive cleaning pad with a mild detergent to clean it, and hand dry it after each wash. I'm not sure I'll even use the plastic rice ladle that comes with the unit - a bamboo ladle would be more friendly to such a sensitive coating on the pot. I'd also stick with the non-abrasive pad for cleaning the inner lid, and perhaps a very soft-bristle brush for getting into tight places; you certainly shouldn't use more aggressive cleaning utensils. And I absolutely would not put it into the dishwasher.Several reviewers complained about a bad smell coming from the unit, and the owner's manual also makes mention of what to do when the unit begins to smell bad. Seems to me the smell comes mainly from not being able to effectively clean the inner and outer lids. Zojirushi should really take a look at that situation. The other "premium" rice cooker brand - Cuckoo - at least makes it possible to remove the sealing gaskets to clean under them.At the end of the day, when reviewing how well this unit cooks a wide variety of rice, and how effective it is with each one, this is a 5-star rice cooker. However, the unit's cleanliness is just as important in producing perfect rice, and that's where this unit fails to some degree. The unit's lid design seems to promote a bacteria buildup if you're not extremely careful to spend the time and energy thoroughly cleaning up after every use. I don't mind doing it, but Zojirushi certainly could have engineered the unit to make it easier to clean. And for a device this expensive, they certainly SHOULD have. This condition caused me to reduce my overall rating for this unit.As long as one is willing to spend prodigious amounts of time cleaning and caring for this rice cooker, it should give many years of excellent service, without smelling bad or losing the cooking pot lining. If not, well, caveat emptor.

I am from BANGLADESH where rice is our main food along with curry for every meal. We use variety of rice most of them are fragrant small grain. We also use ling grain like basmati rice. So i know what is the perfect coocked rice means and how easy is to mess up the coocking process. One day is was searching for rice coocker in amazon and i came across zojhirushi brand. Then i watched youtube video called "EATER" where they test different cooking gadgets. BUT price was too high for this model so at first i brought the neuro fuzzy one which cost 160$ . The rice it coocked was good but i got more interested in induction coocking modek as it controls temp more preciously. So then i returned it and brought the induction heating one for the cost 250$. Note all the model i brought was 10 cup and brand was zojhirushi. the induction heating without pressure coocking was good but the basmati wasnt coocking as good as i was expecting. then then i finally saw this one and brought it with 340$. This one coocked the basmati the perfect way that i want. Rice is evenly coocked from inside out and it becomes more fluffy and the coocked rice grain becomes a lot longer thn the previous models. It also keeps the rice warm perfectly for 8 hours.So here are some pros1.coocks different tye of Indian and Bangladeshi rice perfectly everytime. I also tried brown, gaba brown, Jesmin rice. those are coocked perfect also. Please note that basmati and jesmin are not same type of rive although people commonly mistakes assuming both are same.2.water ratio even you mess up u dont have to worry for over or underxoocked.3.keeps the rice warm perfectly condition for 8 hours. So you can only cook 1 time for whole day.4. Coocks rice evenly from top to bottom which is a rare thing for rice coocker.5.the neuro fuzzy with AI really works. The rice coocker really learns from 5 -6 coocking cycle and afterwards it coocks rice to the perfect way of your liking as it lears for past cooking experience just like human!!!6. Very nice looking rice coocker. Stylish expensive looking.Cons1.price. its very expensive and i dont know how long it will last. But im hopeful as the brand is very old (100 year old and they are making rice coocker all this time ) and its made in japan.2. Cleaning is a big pain. As i only coock rice with water i usually clean its lid and other part in every 3-4 day. But i keed the lid open when i remove pan as it prevents from smell to build up. i clean the coocking pan everyday.but if you use seasoning or other staff other than rice you should clean it every time after coocking.3.the nonstick pan easily get scratched. I would recommend not to wash rice on it as even fingernails can scratch it. Also use silicone spatula to serve rice from it. NEVER USE MATAL OBJECT4.it takes a long time to cook rice avarage 50-63 min depending on grain type. But when finished coocking its ready to eat you dont have to wait another 10-20min as normal rice coocker. But after coocking you have to stir the rice to prevent it from sticking each other which most of the time i forget to do. But even if you dont do it rice dosent go bad.5. Long grain rice like basmati needs more water to cook. So you need to experiment the water to rice cup ratio as the water level on coockin pot doesn't corresponds to long grain rice type. But after you find the correct rato you don't have to worry6. Spare parts are expensive. The coocking pan alone sell for 90$.although i hope u can expect 3-4 years for a pan to lastSo there you have it. I hape you get an idea. If you eat rice on regular basis i would recommend it. But keep it mind that you can only cook rice on it. If you prefer to add things like vegetables or chicken stock theres another japan brand TIGER which you can consider. But for the rice only i think zojhirushi is very hard to beat for the perfect rice every time.

This rice cooker is incredible. People thought I was crazy to spend this much on a rice cooker but it is well worth the price. The consistency of how brown rice, white rice, and quinoa come out is perfect every time. People have zojirushi rice cookers for 10 plus years and I can see how. Build quality is perfect, simple in design, very easy to use. You will not be disappointed with this rice cooker. I was hesitant to splurge and get the induction and pressure but it is well worth the price

Ok, first off, your probably wondering how one could justify spending over 500$ cad on just a rice cooker. And honestly its a bit hard of a price to "swallow". Honestly if you don't cook batches of rice more then 2-3 times a week, save yourself some money and get a cheaper Zojirushi machine. This one the NP-NVC series is the pinnacle of cookers, and after using it for the past 3 weeks it is one of the most useful kitchen appliances. The kicker for this machine though is the "pressure" function which cooks perfect brown rice. Like honestly this machine has cooked every rice we could throw at it PERFECTLY!. and as a plus it has a keep warm feature which you can use to keep rice warm for days on end. I literally can go on and on.. The induction feature will guarantee you will never burn the rice, every grain has come perfect out of this machine, and honestly its a massive joy to use as well as its very Japanese when it plays its kawaii style songs when you start and when it stops the cycles.

An all-around fantastic machine. It gets the rice texture just right for a variety of different rice mixes. It is also easy to use and clean. Although it is a bit pricier than I was hoping for, it is well worth the money if you eat rice regularly. My parents still use a similar model from this company, so you can tell that these are generally very reliable.

excellent rice cooker i like being able to set it and go for a nice gym workout and come back and its ready it can keep the rice warm for 12 hours and 24 on extended which makes it possible for me to do what i need to do and come back and have it ready to eat when i want to

An excellent product but a bit pricey