Oven And Cooktop: Repair Or Replace

An oven stops heating, a cooktop element dies, a door seal goes. The question is always the same and the answer is not.

What is usually worth repairing

Door seals. Cheap, quick, and a perished seal is why an oven takes forever and cooks unevenly. This is the most commonly ignored repair and the one with the best return.

Elements. A failed element in an electric oven is a part and a visit. Straightforward on most models.

Thermostats and sensors. An oven running hot or cold is usually a sensor. Also a part and a visit.

Ignition on a gas cooktop. Clicking that will not light, or a burner that lights and goes out, is often the igniter or the flame failure device, and both are serviceable.

Hinges and doors. A door that will not close squarely is fixable and it is also the cause of the heat loss that made someone think the oven was failing.

What is usually not

Control boards on an older appliance. The board is frequently the most expensive part in the machine. On an appliance past about ten years, the board alone can approach the cost of replacing it, and the rest of the appliance is the same age.

Anything on an appliance where parts are no longer supported. Some brands and models simply have no parts available, and no amount of willingness changes that.

Induction cooktops with a failed generator. The electronics are most of the cost of the unit.

A cracked ceramic or glass top. It is a safety issue rather than a cosmetic one, and it means replacement.

The age line

Roughly speaking, an appliance under about seven years old with a mechanical fault is worth repairing. Over about twelve years with an electronic fault is usually not.

Between those, it depends on the cost of the part against the cost of the appliance, and on whether anything else on it is close to failing.

A useful test: if the repair is approaching half the cost of replacing it, replace it.

Rentals are a different calculation

In a tenanted property, the equation includes the tenant's time without a working appliance and the number of times you will be back.

A repeat repair on an ageing oven means multiple access arrangements, multiple visits and a tenant who is reasonably unhappy. Replacing it once ends that.

There is also the practical point that a landlord has an obligation to keep the appliance working, so an appliance likely to fail again is a liability rather than a saving.

What replacement actually involves

This is where a straight swap stops being straight.

Cabinetry. Appliance dimensions have changed over the years. A new oven frequently does not fit the existing cavity, which means cabinetry work.

Electrical. An older oven may be hardwired to a circuit that is not adequate for a modern appliance, particularly if you are moving from gas to induction. The board has to be checked before the appliance is bought.

Gas. Replacing or removing a gas appliance is licensed work with a certificate attached to it.

Benchtop. A new cooktop with a different cutout size means the benchtop has to be modified or replaced.

That is why an appliance replacement in an older kitchen is a carpentry, electrical and sometimes plumbing job rather than a delivery.

What to do first

Get the fault diagnosed rather than guessing from the symptom, and get the age and model checked for parts availability at the same time.

We do the diagnosis, the repair, and where it needs replacing, the cabinetry and electrical work to make the new appliance fit. Tell us the model and the fault and we will tell you which side of the line it falls on.