For those who replied to my flat cooktop questions

[Jim S.]

When I asked about flat top cooking experiences, I said lo these many months ago that I would tell you what we did when we bought. It took this long to get DIY the carpentry alterations and water line run in the kitchen, but the appliances are now installed.

DW nixed the whole idea of a flat top, and we bought the best Sears eye burner stove they make, which cost us like $597 (made by Electrolux).

It does not have a convection oven, which I wanted, but she is happy. And, as the salesman pointed out, replacing an eye is a $20 DIY deal. Replacing a cooktop is a $1,500 service call deal.

For the dishwasher and fridge, we went with Kenmore Elite (Whirlpool). The fridge is a 25.4 cubic foot job. For the first time ever, we now have water and ice in the door. Whatever. I am hoping the larger size will accommodate her penchant for lots of green leafy veggies, which are great to eat but take up a lot of fridge space.

If anyone is looking at appliances, Sears runs a 20% off sale once a month, usually linked with a delivery charge rebate that makes it no cost for delivery, and you can get a deal where you sign up for a Sears card and you get 6 months with no payments or interest. That made it the best overall deal we could find.

[mnn2501]

Originally Posted by Jim S.

Replacing a cooktop is a $1,500 service call deal.
.

Someone's yanking your chain on this one.

[MN Gardener]

Originally Posted by mnn2501

Someone's yanking your chain on this one.

I think that is a little high too, but a friend of mine had hers break and it was cheaper to replace the stove with a new one then it was to fix the one that broke. They are expensive fix.

[perennial]

The cost for a new glass top is about $450.00 - a friend broker hers (she
wasn't treating it nicely at all)!

Anyhow, glad your happy with your choices - happy baking, etc.

[knoche]

I have a Whirlpool smooth top range.
I dropped a cast iron dutch oven on it. The cast iron won.
The service call as going to be $750 and a new range was $850.
I went parts shopping. A new glass top was $350 online with shipping and it took me about an hour to remove the broken one and install the new on.
Note that at least on mine there are just ribbon elements below and the glass top is completely separate so replacing it didn't involve anything too challenging.
Still, even as a DIY task it was a bit expensive.
I guess the advice to to just be very careful with them.
I probably won't replace it again. I want an induction top (there aren't any in a slide in range) and that would involve a rework of the cabinets and adding a wall oven. So that might not happen. Induction is clearly the way to go if you can afford it - as fast and controllable as gas with none of the disadvantages. A new slide in range is probably what would happen, probably with a smooth top and ribbon elements but with a better (convection) oven. So much easier to clean...