Kitchen Disaster! How'm I gonna cook now?

February 25, 2006 2:04 AM

I accidentally dropped a Pyrex pan of lasagna on my glass cooktop-- the cooktop completely shattered. (The pan, naturally, hasn't got a mark on it.) It doesn't look like any of the underlying structures are damaged. What's the chance we could repair this ourselves? It's apparently at least a $300 repair, and we can't really afford that until maybe July, and I'd like to have a usable stove before them. I don't mind if it's ugly, we can always have it professionally replaced later on when we can afford it. Would this really be worth it? Or are we better off microwaving and baking for months?
posted by Shoeburyness to Home & Garden (12 answers total)

Best answer: The ceramic glass top that you need to fix your cooktop is something like a $200-250 part, depending on size and model. That's probably all you need, but you need the right size, thickness, and may be, mount point reliefs (again, depending on cooktop model). It's not, as far as I know, something where you can easily find a cheaper generic replacement, if that is what you are hoping.

These things break pretty frequently, so they are readily available from most kitchen appliance parts dealers, but they aren't cheap. You could almost get a complete conventional new electric stove for what the repair will cost. But the problem with getting a new or used conventional range is that your counters probably aren't going to accept it.

Still, maybe you could find something at used appliance shop, or a thrift center in your area.
posted by paulsc at 2:25 AM on February 25, 2006

You might be able to get away with an electric burner as an interim solution. You can sometimes find these at thrift stores, for even cheaper.
posted by Philbo at 6:58 AM on February 25, 2006

Best answer: When I had to repair some weird big part on my stove that had broken, I went over and read through the forums at appliance 411. If you know your make and model you can browse through old archives sometimes and find someone who has had the same problem and often they are a good first step to finding parts for all makes and models of ovens. I found out that I was able to replace the electronic "brain" from my stove by buying a $180 part instead of having a $350 service call. Good luck.
posted by jessamyn at 7:29 AM on February 25, 2006

Well, glass is glass, right? Why not just measure the stove and get a peice cut in the right size at lowes or home depot?
posted by delmoi at 12:15 PM on February 25, 2006

Careful with that, delmoi. Despite not surviving the blow from the (glass) Pyrex® dish, the stovetop was probably treated (however they do that kind of thing) to make it stronger and at least a little bit heat resistant. Plain ol' window glass from a hardware store might not last through its first use.
posted by phrits at 12:37 PM on February 25, 2006

Glass is most certainly not just glass. These cooktops are usually made of a ceramic type of glass that can withstand the heat. I strongly suggest you don't take delmoi's advice.
posted by jduckles at 12:46 PM on February 25, 2006

Habitat for Humanity has a store where they sell new and used donated house hold stuff very cheap. I'd call them up and ask if they had the part.
posted by fshgrl at 12:48 PM on February 25, 2006

Response by poster: I guess we had more money than I thought, because we were able to swing a refurb range from our local Sears Outlet, for about $150 more than it would have cost to get the old one repaired. And bonus-- I can actually see into the oven while it's cooking! (The old one had a window, but it was covered with grease or something ever since we had moved in, and every time we ran the self-clean cycle, it just got worse.) It even matches our over-stove microwave, which the old one didn't. We don't see anything wrong with it-- it even had the slight smoke & odor when we used it, as if it were the very first time it had been used.

So now the revised question is, what can I do with the old range? Would any charities want to accept a range with a shattered cooktop that otherwise works? OR should we just store it in the shed until our city's annual large item trash pickup day in a few months?
posted by Shoeburyness at 4:48 PM on February 25, 2006

I was going to suggest looking for a second hand version of your broken one, as these seem to sell for peanuts in the local classifieds.
In terms of getting rid of the old one, I suggest a post in your blog offering it to whoever needs it.
These things regularly fail in the electronics (see Jessamyn's post above) due to the high temperature operation and the electronics are expensive to replace.
It would be good karma to give someone the opportunity to fix their fried cooktop cheap, and it is unlikely you would find a taker for the whole device.
posted by bystander at 8:17 PM on February 25, 2006

Would homeowner's insurance help with this at all? Worth making the call at least, right? Might get some of that money back.
posted by visual mechanic at 9:40 PM on February 25, 2006

Freecycle is a great way to find it a new home.
posted by theora55 at 4:16 PM on February 26, 2006

try freecycle.org got a few good things off of there.
posted by stilgar at 4:55 PM on February 26, 2006