[WrtCdEvrydy]

Honestly, I had spent 20 years in the US and we consistently bought the cheapest appliances ever.

When I bought my house I finally said "screw it, let's see what decent appliances look like".

Japanese rice cooker set me back $95 and I thought I would never hear the end of it, and after 4 years, it had already paid itself off (we were doing $14 rice cookers every 6 months). Air fryer was $70 but the previous $40 only lasted 13 months. Basic coffee maker was like $60 but made non-burnt coffee. A little combo oven/toaster is what I ended up on since we had one in the last apartment since we never used a full oven.

The ones that are honestly pretty difficult to find were dishwasher but one of our friends suggested bosch because we wanted a quiet appliance.

[JohnBooty]

There's also just a... man, I don't know how to describe it. Kind of a mental benefit to using slightly nicer things.

When I was young, almost everything I owned was the cheapest possible version of that thing. Everything just kind of sucked, brutally cost-optimized to the point of being somewhat nasty to use and barely functional.

I was still very fortunate: I had food to eat, clothes, etc. A lot of kids in the world would have traded places with me.

Now that I'm older, I have no interest in "luxury" goods, but there's that subtle intangible benefit to using e.g. the $95 rice cooker vs. the $14 rice cooker. You feel like somebody who's worth more than the cheapest possible piece of disposable shit, I guess. Or at least I do.

It makes better rice, too, of course. And there's the ecological benefit of not tossing a $14 rice cooker into the landfill every couple of months. But there's also a bit of self worth involved, or something.

[WrtCdEvrydy]

I'm not a super stingy guy and we're a Cuban family so rice is an every day dish.

It's not super fancy or anything but it fills that rice craving and is a multi-use device.

[ncmncm]

In the US, the $95 cooker lasts no longer, and works no better, than the $25 unit. (There is no $14 one.) You might be able to do better with a Japanese brand, but it is vanishingly unlikely you will get the same one as they would have sold in Japan, unless you actually get it shipped from there.

I make rice in a saucepan on the range top. I have to come back and turn it off when it's done. Otherwise, it is the same. If you care about how good your rice is, you are starting with short-grain rice. Or red, or black, or arborio for risotto.

[QuercusMax]

I've had a Zojirushi for 20 years, and my mom has had hers for 30. Probably paid $250 when new. We use it nearly every day. My kids know how to make rice with it, and it comes out perfect every time. I wouldn't trust a ten year old to make rice on the stove, but they can do it with a rice cooker no problem.

[ncmncm]

They can do it with your exact rice cooker, no problem.

I grew up with Zojirushi rice cookers. They always worked. The last one I bought sputtered starch water all over the counter. Stuff you can buy in the US today is not the same as what we could buy even 20 years ago.

[mtrower]

The one I bought from them 4 or 5 years ago is great. Same with the water boiler. But I made sure to purchase models that are still made in Japan —- not all of their models are.

I bought them off Amazon, do sourcing isn’t difficult, but some research might be in order if you want Japanese manufacturing. You’ll pay more for these models as well — they aren’t the cheap or maybe even middle-priced options... (I believe my rice cooker was nearly $300, 5 or so years ago...)

[ebruchez]

> one of our friends suggested bosch because we wanted a quiet appliance

We've been very happy with our Bosch. Don't ever buy a cheap dishwasher.

[ncmncm]

You can spend as much as you like on a dishwasher. $200, $300, $400, $500, $700, $900, $1200.

The only real difference above $400 is how loud it is. In a silent room you can't tell whether the $1200 dishwasher is running at all.

That does not matter to everybody.