Avanti Cooktop Repair

Avanti cooktops are sized for spots full-size equipment will not fit: two- and four-burner units in compact kitchens, accessory apartments, outdoor kitchens and secondary prep counters. Electric versions use coil or radiant elements on infinite switches, and gas versions use sealed burners with spark ignition. The cabinet space under them is tight, so heat from the burners has little room to escape.

That cramped space is behind one of the more common faults. Where a cooktop sits over a drawer or a wall oven, wiring and terminal connections bake year after year until insulation turns brittle and a connection scorches. The symptom can look like a dead element when the real failure is the burned terminal feeding it, so we always look at the wiring under the top, not only the part that stopped.

Elsewhere, faults follow the type. A coil or radiant element that will not heat may simply be broken, and one that stays on high has a failed infinite switch. Radiant glass cracks when a heavy pan drops on it, and a cracked surface must not be used. Gas units bring dead igniters, burners that will not stay lit because the ports are clogged, and switches that click nonstop after a spill.

On a lanai or outdoor kitchen, humidity and salt air near the water corrode spark electrodes and switch terminals faster than indoors. With the breaker off or the gas closed, look for scorched terminals, loose coil elements and cracks in the glass, and clean and dry gas caps and heads. If you smell gas, leave the area and call the gas utility or 911 from outside.

We test elements, switches and wiring on electric models, and igniters, the spark module and burner parts on gas. Elements, switches and igniters are fair repairs. A replacement glass top for an inexpensive cooktop can cost close to a new unit, and we will tell you that. If you replace it, measure the countertop cutout first, since compact cooktop sizes differ from brand to brand.