I'm commenting to follow this thread. I have all circa 2006 Thermador appliances. Praying none of them go out anytime soon, but they are sooo expensive to repair, I've wondered what the best course of action is.

I should add - cooking is pretty much my only hobby and the main thing that I do for fun, so if I can make a major upgrade somehow, I'd be interested in that.

I did a ton of research (thanks GardenWeb!) and found some nice ranges but I don't see anything that will fit in 36" that is miles better than what I have?

If you get a new one, get a Wolf.

I wouldn't put money into a range that parts aren't being made for unless you're really attached to your vintage range

yeah. This is why I'm struggling. I haven't put the time into checking every single part but it makes me nervous (and unhappy!) that a thermostat, which is a key part that does fail, is completely discontinued.

The money would come out of the Home Improvement Fund, and we have all kinds of dreams and things that we'd like to do, but I do use my range at least 2x a day every single day. ...and cooking time is my own time that I enjoy. My wife is voting to replace but I'm the one that frets over savings.

I don't want to turn the topic into which range is best ;) but which BS do you have?

I went from a Thermador to a Bluestar about three years ago...no comparison at all, night and day!

The Bluestar is a true workhorse, if you enjoy cooking now you will love it that much more! ....don't put good money after bad

To complicate matters, the old Thermador is deep, looks like 27" to be flush with the cabinets.

Bluestars are 27" also, actually 28" to the front top lip. Should replace the Thermador perfectly.

The only thing that might be different would be the gas oven with BS or Culinarian. If you bake a lot, that might be a consideration.

tibbrix, I would not consider Wolf DF until they resolve the blue chipping issue. I am strongly considering the BS RNB to replace my Wolf DF. I do have an electric wall oven so I think I could get by with gas in one oven.

I was the original owner of a Thermador cooktop with four burners and a grill/griddle installed circa 1993. We had it repaired twice in 20 years by the local appliance store that it was purchased from. They have been in business a very long time and service what they sell. They were no longer able to get parts, and they kept it working from stuff they had in their inventory. Both times it was burner issues. In the end, only three burners would light. If it were me, I would not invest any money in your current unit.

Realistically, its possible that you would be spending $1500 just to repair it again in a year or less. If you can find the parts then. I would recommend moving to the BS or the Capital. Both are well made. The likely hood that your thermador fails again soon is HIGH and who knows if you would even be able to repair it at that point.

IMHO - its time to move on!

Thank you everyone. wilson853 - that's the sort of situation I was afraid of. There seem to be some parts out there but inventories are drying up and after sleeping on it, I'm not confident that I could keep this thing running for another 10 years if I wanted to.

Right now I'm leaning toward purchasing a new Capital. It's hard to decide really, but the non self-clean Culinarian is about $1000 less than the BlueStar NVP and it has a 4 year warranty on parts through Eurostoves (they are local to me)

Definitely go with new. Years ago I had a similar situation with a Viking DF, the estimate was $2,500 to repair, and I went that route, and then a short time later the hinge springs failed , so the door would sag open, and Viking said those parts were discontinued. I limped along a while longer, than gave in and got a BS and love it.

While I agree that the jump from $1,500 to the numbers you are talking about are significant, if you spend $1,500, do you really expect the Thermador to go another 5 or 10 years without having a problem. My guess is that more things will wear out or fail, and it will be expensive if you can find parts, and a dead end if you can't. If you go new, five years from now you won't have to worry about replacing a 20 year old Thermador.

The best analogy is a car that you've owned for 15 years versus buying a new one. How many miles? Are parts available? Are new ones more energy-efficient? If you continue to repair, how long until the parts cost more than the value of the car?

Time to replace. I would also factor in other changes that might need to be made in the kitchen when a high powered range is replacing a 15 y.o. range. It's not going to be a simple swap. Also be prepared for very long preheat times with the huge ovens on those ranges.

I'd replace without a second thought. Worst thing would be repair, then another $1000 or whatever in another repair in 2 year.

rococogurl - thanks I hadn't thought of that. I do have a Thermador hood and the range is installed against a brick chimney (no cabinets above), but I should look into that more deeply.

I am in the same boat. It is outrageous to not be able to get a new igniter for my pro grand dual fuel range or any other parts for that matter. I take that as a “ no customer appreciation” stand on Thermador’s part. My daughter-in-law has. Wolf cook top and they guarantee that parts will be available 25 years after a model is discontinued.

We were in the same boat with our 20-year old 48” Thermador. We replaced with another Thermador with a dual steam oven. The steam oven is a nice addition but the noise of the regular oven fan is much louder. There are other threads about the noise, but had I known about it, we might have made a different replacement choice.

We have a 1962 Thermador with concealed downdraft that raises and lowers into the back of the unit--still works great. Just listed it for sale in fact.

I have a 6 burner Thermador gas cook top bought in 2004. The only problem I have with it is that the independent spark re-igniter module is slowly going and only supplies spark to 4 of the 6 burners. If i could get a 6 point igniter for it I am sure it would work for another 10 years. It will still ignite with a cheap hand held igniter, a little bit of a pain though lighting it that way. The part I need is a 00189010, it could even be a used one that works. Tried to source it everywhere and cannot seem to find one.

Find and circuit board repair shop. I recently did that and it worked.