What's in the stores
I visited a few stores to find out what sort of appliances they keep and if any of them are multi-steam cookers.
I didn't find any multi steam cookers, but I did find many rice cookers with similar functions. Except of course it can't do everything a steamcooker can. I could make your rice, and at the max you can make your dal in it. But you cannot steam cook your vegetables or meat.
Of the packaging and shelf display I saw, I really liked Philip's packaging. Their work was simple, with as little body copy as possible, so that everything wasn't jumping out at you all at once.
Here are some pictures I managed to get (with a salesman baring down my back as they normally do at all stores)
These were the rice cookers on display.
The Morphy Richards, rice cooker had the keep warm facility, and was priced at Rs. 1390. The Koryo rice cooker is priced at Rs.1999. Although the prices seem reasonable enough, these appliances cannot do half the things the Maestro does, and let's not forget the how much more economical the Maestro is to use.
Even though the keep warm facility sounds great in the rice cookers, it tends to make the food drier, and uses up extra electricity. Plus the heat is not evenly distributed as it is in steam cookers.
