Compact, Yet Roomy, Heats Quickly.

This Rice Cooker, or Steamer, is compact, yet roomy, produces steam quickly, is a breeze to clean, and was very affordable priced at $29.95 at both Lowe's and Target. I personally bought mine to steam hamburgers. Yes, hamburgers. It goes back to a local burger shoppe that closed after 50 years of business. Back to point, we have cooked vegetables, hot dogs, rice and other goodies in this cooker. It has double bins that are stackable, or you can use one at a time. Double bins are meant to allow you to prepare a main course, for instance lobster tails, on the bottom bin, and your vegetables in the upper bin. The idea is to place items that will take longer to cook closer to the steam, and smaller item in the upper bin. It also has a bowl to prepare rice, or other foods that might slip through the vent slits in the bottom of the bins. All parts are dishwasher approved. The base unit itself wipes down easily. You can add water during the cooking process via the water port located on the corner of the unit without interrupting your cooking. It has a see through window for the water reservoir that is clearly marked with minimum and maximum water levels. The Oster 5712 also boasts a programmable digital readout. After the unit runs the programmed cook time, it automatically goes into warm mode. I'm not sure how long the warm mode is, as there is no mention of it in the owner's manual. I think it's about 15 minutes. The only problem we have found with this cooker is that the manufacturer placed the vent holes in the lid right beside the handle ears, and my wife and I have both jerked our hands away with a smart. Neither of us have been burned seriously, but I can see it would be an easy thing to do.