Is it really that hard to grill bread? Nope, but you have to pay attention somewhat to stop it burning.
Once you hit a certain volume of usage, an automatic device makes a lot of sense.
Not really, you can make toast on the stove in about 1 minute, rice takes 20.
For rice nearly zero attention is necessary with the correct amount of water.
And in that 20 minutes you get enough rice to fill mutiple people up.