Cooktop Repair in the San Francisco Bay Area

Bay Area kitchens have every kind of cooktop. Older homes and flats mostly cook on gas; many remodels and new homes are going all-electric, so induction keeps getting more common; and radiant glass tops sit somewhere in between. Best Pro repairs all three, from a gas cooktop in a Sunset flat to induction in a new Mountain View kitchen. The fix depends on the type, so that’s where the diagnosis starts.

Gas

Most gas cooktop calls are about lighting. Picture a burner that won’t catch, or an igniter that keeps ticking after the flame is up. The usual causes are a boil-over on the cap or base, a wet or cracked igniter, a bad spark module, or a worn switch behind the knob.

On Bosch, Miele and other European-style cooktops, every burner has a flame-failure thermocouple: you hold the knob in for a few seconds until it warms, and only then does the valve stay open. If the flame still dies when you let go, the thermocouple or its safety valve is the part to replace.

A flame that’s weak or lopsided points to clogged ports or a cap that isn’t sitting right.

Radiant glass

An element that won’t heat — or won’t stop heating — is either the element itself, the infinite switch behind the knob, or on touch-control models a relay on the board. If the hot-surface light stays on long after the glass is cool, the limiter in the element or a relay has stuck.

Induction

Induction only heats what a magnet will grip, so a zone that ignores a pan may simply be ignoring the pan. Try a magnet on its base first. If the cookware is fine, we test the coil, the power board and the pan sensor.

Induction electronics also need airflow. A cooling fan that’s quit, or a drawer below packed so tight it blocks the vent, makes the cooktop overheat, throw an error and shut off mid-dinner. And when the touch controls won’t respond, check for the child lock and for water sitting on the glass before suspecting the touch board.

Cracked glass

We replace cracked glass tops on radiant and induction cooktops. Stop using a cracked one: spills can run through to the wiring underneath.

We work on Bosch, GE, Whirlpool, KitchenAid, Frigidaire, Samsung, LG, Electrolux, Miele and more. Wolf and Dacor cooktops have their own pages: Wolf, Dacor. For a cooktop that’s part of a range, see range and stove repair; for restaurant equipment, see commercial cooktop repair.