Do you have any counters without uppers?

I always use our rice cooker on the peninsula that doesn't have cabinets above it.

I also have a zojirushi rice cooker and have had the same fears about the steam going onto the cabinets. I, like the previous poster, generally plug it in where there are no uppers.

Never had a rice cooker...but, could you just toss a towel over the top of it to absorb the steam? Or does it get too hot on the outside to do that? (I generally put a folded towel on top of my old crock-pot cooker to help insulate it so it will cook a bit faster.)

My thinking on the bathroom exhaust fan is that it will be a lot more exhaust than you need and it will be noisy...the lower CFM's ones usually being the cheap loud ones. That and it's another penetration to the outdoors....Brrrr, she says from her frozen Wisconsin perch.

Just do like I have done for the past 20 years. Pull it forward on the lower counter past the uppers when it's in cook mode and actively venting steam. It's no big deal to do that and then slide it back under the cabinets after that stage if you need it out of the way for additional prep. You have to slide it forward enough from under the uppers to be able to serve from it anyway, so it's not a big deal to do. (No more onerous than sliding a coffee maker forward in order to fill the water reservoir, or the Kitchenaid in order to use it, or any other countertop appliance, etc.) It certainly doesn't need it's own vent fan!

I don't have a rice cooker, but when we make waffles and such, I just place the electric waffle maker on the cooktop and turn on the fan on the vent-a-hood and it sucks out all the steam from the waffle maker.

I do what live wire does. It has worked now for 37 years. 2 so far in this kitchen. No ill effects. c

I have a MAJOR mold allergy, so this isn't just a matter of aesthetics for me.

In fact, when we moved into our previous rental I had discovered a plume of mold damage on the back wall and under the wall kitchen cabs. The owner then figured out that that was the location where she'd kept HER rice cooker for years and years.

So I'm concerned, and I do pull the rice cooker forward as much as possible (on a 24" counter), but the front and bottom edge of the wall cabinets still get steamy (cabinet rail is 15" above counter). And, I just looked and there are brown condensation spots underneath the top cabinet, behind the light rail. Am I the only one??

For those of you with NO problems from the cooker, how far is its vent from your upper cabinets -- both horizontally and vertically?

I've found 50-90CFM bathroom fans @ 0.3 sones. (0.5 is the sound of rustling leaves), so that's quiet enough. But it would be an under-insulated penetration in a (SF Bay Area) house we hope to have very insulated.

However, it does seem like overkill, I recognize. That's why I'm posting here -- to get insights from wise folks who cook and who think deeply about kitchen usability.

I do the same as lwo, pull the rice cooker forward until it clears the upper cabinet. My rice cooker vents from the top toward the back, so I also turn it around so the vent is at the front. The bathroom fan idea seems like overkill to me too.

Do you have an island you can place the cooker on?

It may be a little cumbersome if you use your rice cooker daily, but I would just put the rice cooker next to the cooktop and use the vent. The vent wouldn't be as efficient as using the cookop, but it would at least catch some of the steam/ moisture

My husband pulls our steamer out but it drives me crazy for all the reasons stated above. I keep it near the sink as we have room between the cabinets so it doesn't get too close to the cabinets, which is nice. If you look at the panasonic exhaust fans, they can be used for kitchen (and other brands) ... I looked the other day as I want one for the basement for my husband's workshop as it is near the furnace/vents to pull out the smell... they have a through the wall model for about $250, which is high, but they get the best ratings. I originally looked at them when we moved in for the bathroom but right now the install would be a pain with the insulation/rafters, etc. We may consider putting one in the kitchen too as we didn't exhaust the microwave - too much of a hassle, we tried... but we don't get the kitchen that smelly so it may not be worth the effort/expense, but we'll see when we get to the attic redo. I personally prefer the idea as they are much quieter than an range vent.

Hubby is half Japanese and we do rice 6 out of 7 days. No problems whatsoever in 20 years, even on the old grungy cabinets that are now gone. I just turn the vent on the cooker so it discharges past the upper cabinets. I've had the occasional bit of starch to wipe off of the outside of the door if I got the steam too close to it, but never ever any mold, and I live in the South, where mold spores are a year round allergy issue. Even if I had the vent under the cabinet, and it had some condensation on the cabinet, I wouldn't get mold. I'd get a starch buildup that could resemble mold, maybe. Mold needs a constantly wet environment for at least a 12 hours or so to grow, and a kitchen would have to have very very very poor ventilation in order for the small amount of steam that a rice maker puts out to stay unevaporated for 12 hours.