I want one of those

Ever come back to find a layer of blackened rice on the bottom of your saucepan and the burnt flavour ruining the rest of your rice?

Rice can demand your full attention and be unforgiving of those who are called away to answer a phonecall or calm a crying child. Cooking it in a microwave can produce mixed results; wet rice syndrome or the dried-to-shot-pellet-texture, depending on your oven. Then along came the rice cooker. Most rice cookers are basic steam-cookers designed to cook rice and keep it warm, with precise water-to-rice ratios promising just-right rice each time. This Kenwood model has a steam basket for cooking vegetables or fish, so you can cook a healthy meal in one blast. Perfectly virtuous and perfectly free of blackened bits on the bottom of the pan.

The Kenwood Rice Cooker is in the Arnotts sale, priced €50.39.