after year of struggle to cook a variety of rice perfectly and consistently on the stovetop , I now own a machine that do the job . I have only own my ns-lac05 for about two week but , so far , I could not be more pleased with it . I have cook a mixed whole grain rice call Black Japonica , as well as brown basmatus , several time each and every batch have come out perfectly . for my purpose , the most valuable feature of this machine be the timer . I put the rice and water in the cooker before go to work in the morning , set the timer for 8:00 p.m. , and have perfect , warm rice wait for I when I get home from the gym . once the rice be do cooking , the machine automatically go into `` keep warm '' mode ... so I have nothing to worry about if I get hang up at work or stay at the gym longer than plan . Perfect rice be wait for I . this cooker with timer make eat healthy whole grain possible even with busy schedule and a lack of the patience necessary to wait a hour after arrive home to eat dinner . although the size of this cooker sound small -lrb- 3-cup -rrb- , it be perfect for solo eater up to dinner party of 6 . well worth the money ... enjoy !