[...] but that’s more of a commercial benefit I think

For me, this is the primary benefit of a rice cooker. Having warm, cheap, filling food on demand at any time is fantastic. I am so lazy and my little rice buddies are always ready to go when I can't be bothered.

I eat a lot of ice and I still just make it in a pot.

A rice cooker can serve as a cheaper instapot tho. I can steam rice and veggies without having to babysit a pot.

I also have kitchen anxiety, and in a roommate situation can keep a rice cooker in my room.

When I did a homestay in Japan, my host dad was shocked my family didn't have one. I do now though!

I used to do that for years, but rice cookers really do some magic to get perfectly fluffy rice. I thought my technique was good, until I tried rice from a rice cooker.

Yeah just add however many cups of rice and then add water to the specified line. Don’t need to do any of that finger bullshit to check water levels

And by cup I mean the cup that comes with the rice cooker not sure how it corresponds to the actual unit of measurement

Lol TIL people are buying used rice cookers on eBay

Rice cookers are not sealed for high pressure (they are in fact not sealed at all, just like regular pots and lids, because they need to lose excess moisture) and they are configured for this one particular thing: every rice cooker is calibrated for a fixed serving of rice (or couple different settings) with fixed amount of water. All it really does is turn off at the perfect moment, ~~which is determines by weight.~~ which is determined by a thermostat (magnet-based in this case)

The relatively good larger instant pot that I bought a couple of years ago was around $79, so I reckon you can still get one for under $100. Although I also have a rice cooker, I find this thing indispensable. I often have 5-8 people at my house, so a go to is throwing a bunch of chicken breast, soy, ginger, garlic, brown sugar, etc, in the instant pot for around 30-40 minutes total time while the rice is cooking. Shred chicken, turn to sauté, add a little corn starch slurry. Boom teriyaki chicken.

We do a similar thing for chicken tacos, but spicing with chicken bouillon, cumin, cayenne, chili powder, garlic, onion, tomato. Shred, enjoy meat for tacos, enchiladas, etc. I make a passable birria in about around 2 hours.

Country ribs/pork shoulder, bbq sauce, apple juice, onion, garlic. While it's cooking in the instant pot, simmer down an onion. Not quite caramelize until it's jelly, but sweat until onions are soft. Turn oven to broil, cut the entire pack of kings hawaiian rolls or similar in half, butter and brown under the broil. Shred the pork, spread on the rolls, add a little bbq sauce, the onions, and cover with provolone slices. Broil again until cheese melts.

Chili is another good one. Although I haven't done it, you can use unsoaked dry beans in some recipes. I usually just throw a few cans of my faves (I prefer it bitier, so more kidney) with spices and browned meat of some sort (feel free to omit) and we're good to go.

Most of the things I make in the instant pot are things that I would normally have to wait all day for, or at least 3-4 hours. Not great after a work day. Low and slow recipes work really well in instant pot with a minor adjustment here and there, and often you turn a 4 hour recipe into a 1 hour recipe. And as a poor, this type of cooking can be a game changer because low and slow is often for foods that are cheap. if you head to the store and buy a ny strip, you can come home and be eating great in 15 minutes. Not so much with a much, much cheaper piece of chuck.

You can do a lot more with a rice cooker. Soup, pasta, sauces, even steam vegetables if you put a tray on it.

I've always wanted to try one of those, nice.