Have you ever heard of Panasonic and National? Actually, these are the same Japanese manufacturer. Recently they decided to unify both brands under the Panasonic umbrella, which is more known internationally. I live in Japan and I own an older National fridge, and recently I bought a Panasonic rice cooker.
Having a rice cooker at home is a blast! I had a doubt on whether or not I should buy a Panasonic or a Zojirushi. Well, both work like any other model available on the market. Wash and soak the rice, add water, press start and you are done.
Other than cooking rice, these cookers also have menus to warm rice and to steam vegetables. The warming mode will warm any foods stored for up to 12 hours. The inside pot and inside lid will both come out, which is very helpful to clean it up. Two fundamental accessories that came along were the vegetable stand, to steam cook vegetables, and a plastic spatula to grab rice, which amazingly will not get rice stuck on.
The Panasonic design is pretty simple and plain. They will match most kitchen countertops out there. And I have got to be honest. Although my family has two Zojirushi cookers at home, I decided to buy a Panasonic model based on price and electricity consumption – there was a slight difference on both aspects favoring Panasonic. If these two factors are also important to you, I can tell you I have owned a Panasonic rice cooker for the past six months and I use it almost everyday.
I have a white, 3-cup cooker. It blends in well even with my Tiger denki potto (electric water kettle), which is a different brand. Mine, though, is kept over the fridge instead of over the counter. The only thing I need to do in order to clean my rice cooker is to wipe it once a week to get rid of dust.
Panasonic or National, it will not make a difference. You can find the same Japanese quality in both brands.