The upper oven display went dark while the lower one carried on working. Rather than sell me a control board he checked the ribbon connection first, found it corroded from a leak above and cleaned and reseated it. Fine ever since.
Is it worth fixing
Repair or replace
The fifty-per-cent rule, done with a real table instead of a guess — and the three answers it actually gives.
$2,100
The rule people mean when they ask is the old trade shorthand: if the repair costs more than half of replacing the appliance, replace it. On this table that line falls at $2,100, because the cheapest thing we could be compared against is $4,200 — the appliance alone, before it is delivered, fitted or trimmed back into the run it came out of.
That is a high line, and it is why the answer on a built-in is so often "repair". The whole of the cooking side of our table finishes at $1,060 for the heaviest thing on it, which is inside the line with room to spare. The one repair that gets anywhere near $2,100 is the sealed system in a refrigeration column, and even at the top of its band a column keeps the cabinetry, the panels and the opening it was built into.
The three answers
| Answer | What it looks like | The sum |
|---|---|---|
| Repair it | Anything in the cooking half of the table — elements, igniters, sensors, fans, a control board, a door. | $1,060 at the very top, against a $2,100 line. |
| A judgement call | A refrigeration column sealed system at the heavy end of its band, on an appliance with other things already going wrong. | $860–$2,480. The bottom of that band is not close to $2,100; the top of it is past. |
| Leave it | The part is no longer made for that serial, or a second major failure is already running alongside the first. | No figure at all. There is nothing to weigh against the replacement. |
Every figure in that column is read off the two tables below. None of it is a quotation: which band applies depends on which component failed, and that is what the $80 diagnostic is for.
Before anything is ordered
What is being weighed against what?
$80 Flat $80 diagnostic covering the visit and the full diagnostic sequence, credited toward the repair once you approve the work.
| What was replaced | Parts and labor |
|---|---|
| Igniter, spark module or surface element | $190–$550 |
| Oven thermostat or temperature sensor | $170–$560 |
| Bake or broil element | $190–$590 |
| Convection fan or motor | $260–$730 |
| Control board or touch panel | $400–$1,060 |
| Door hinge, glass or seal | $180–$640 |
| Refrigeration column sealed system | $860–$2,480 |
Ranges, not quotations: the figure that counts is written down after the diagnosis, and nothing is priced from a description over the telephone. The band that applies depends on which component failed, which is what the diagnostic is for.
When is it worth replacing instead?
| Bought new instead | Appliance only |
|---|---|
| Wall oven, the usual repair-or-replace comparison | $4,200–$9,500 |
| Professional rangetop or range | $5,500–$14,500 |
A comparable Thermador wall oven, rangetop or column, appliance only — before delivery, installation or cabinetry. National appliance pricing, not Florida labour.
Held against the table above, a repair at the top of its band is still a long way short of $4,200, and the cabinetry stays as it is. Where it genuinely is not worth doing, we say so at the diagnostic rather than after the part has been ordered.
What the rule misses
A freestanding appliance is swapped. A built-in is refitted. The replacement figures below are for the appliance only, so everything the change of appliance drags behind it — the delivery, the two people, the trim, the panel that no longer lines up, the cabinetry that has to come back off — sits outside both of those numbers and on the replace side of the scale.
The comparison also assumes one appliance standing on its own. In a kitchen fitted out at once, the appliance replaced today rarely matches the doors, handles and panels beside it, and that is how a decision about one machine turns into a conversation about the whole run. A repair leaves the run as it is.
When we say leave it
Three things end the argument, and none of them is the size of the bill. A part that is no longer made for that serial number; a second major failure already running alongside the first; or an installation fault that will take the new part down on the same schedule it took the last one. In each case the honest answer is that the money is better spent elsewhere, and you get it at the diagnostic — with the reason, and in writing.
Flat $80 diagnostic, credited in full toward the repair when you approve the work. Written estimate before any part is ordered or any labor is billed. If the estimate is declined the diagnostic stands alone and there is nothing further to pay. Where the repair does go ahead: 90 days on labor, 365 days on parts, genuine OEM parts only.
Nothing here is quoted over the telephone. The same symptom is a $80 conversation or a $860–$2,480 one depending on what has actually failed, and the only honest way to tell those apart is to look at the appliance.
Asked before the decision
- Does the 50% rule work on a built-in?
- Only as a starting point. It weighs two numbers and a built-in has a third: the opening. Replacing means matching a new appliance to a cut-out, a panel and a service connection made for the old one, and none of that work is inside the $4,200 either.
- Is a twenty-year-old Thermador built-in worth repairing?
- Frequently, and the deciding fact is the serial number rather than the age. Where the part is still made, the arithmetic is the same as it would be on a new appliance. Where it is not, nothing else rescues it — and you hear that at the diagnostic, not after a part has been ordered.
- When would you tell me not to repair it?
- When the part cannot be had, when a second major failure is already running alongside the first, or when the real fault is the installation and the appliance will do the same again. We say it at the diagnostic, with the reason. There is nothing on the van to sell you instead.
Owner feedback
What owners said when it was borderline
4.6 out of 5, across 69 customer reviews. Each one is a single visit, in the words of the person who paid for it.
The cap outside had filled with debris off the oaks and the flap could no longer swing clear of it. He cleared the run from the roof end, freed the damper and rechecked the draw at the grille. The kitchen clears after frying again.
A normal wash had quietly stretched to almost twice the time it used to take. He found the heater relay sticking on the board and the sensor lagging behind it, changed the pair, and the cycle times dropped back to where they belong.