Repaplex repair or replace, decided by the numbers

cooktop: the glass top of the cooktop is cracked or chipped

A cracked glass top is not a surface to live with until it is convenient: the glass carries the pans, the crack grows with every heat cycle, and the honest answer is that the whole assembly is the repair rather than the pane. The safety list on this page opens with an instruction rather than a part: the glass is cracked and the appliance is still being used: stop using it, because the surface carries the weight of the pans and a crack propagates with every heat cycle - a pan that slips into it can tip hot food onto whoever is standing there [S1]. That is what puts the glass top of the cooktop is cracked or chipped in the medium-risk column, and it is why unplugged before anything is opened comes before any diagnosis. Once the machine is safe to work on, heat trapped under a pan that is too big, or too small is where the search starts — no part needed [S1], about 5 minutes — with heat trapped under a pan that is too big, or too small the cheapest possibility at no part needed [S1]. It is reported as a pot was dropped on the glass top, there is a chip at the edge that has started to spread, the glass cracked while it was cooling down, one zone stopped heating after the crack or is it safe to keep using a small crack?.

What a technician actually does

impact damage, and why the whole top is the repair [S1]

high likelihood pro $200–$1,000 installed about 120 min

a pot was dropped on the glass top is it safe to keep using a small crack?

The fact that decides this whole page, and the source states it in its first line: the glass top can be replaced, but not the glass alone - the surface, the frame and the mounting are one assembly, so a crack is quoted as a panel rather than as a pane. A dropped pan is the usual cause, and the price depends on which of the three surfaces the machine has, which is why the source publishes three bands rather than one.

S1 prices the glass as an assembly rather than a pane, and gives installed bands by type: tempered glass $200-600, ceramic glass $400-1,000 and induction tops $300-1,000, with the labour portion at $50-300 for the one to two hours a swap takes

thermal shock, hot glass meeting something cold [S1]

medium likelihood pro $200–$1,000 installed about 120 min

the glass cracked while it was cooling down a pot was dropped on the glass top

The cause that produces a crack with no impact behind it: glass that has just been used is at several hundred degrees, and a spill of cold water, a frozen item set down on a still-hot zone or a wet cloth on a warm surface changes its temperature faster than it can absorb. The crack often appears minutes later, while it is cooling, which is why the memory of the event is usually the spill rather than the break.

the same assembly bands apply: $200-600 tempered, $400-1,000 ceramic, $300-1,000 induction, plus $50-300 of labour

a chip or a hairline that has been spreading [S1]

medium likelihood pro $200–$1,000 installed about 120 min

there is a chip at the edge that has started to spread is it safe to keep using a small crack?

The source's answer to the question people actually ask is that a cracked glass top is not a repair you defer: the surface is load-bearing as well as decorative, the crack propagates every time the zone heats and cools, and a pan that slips into it can tip. It treats a small crack as the same decision as a large one, taken earlier - which is the honest position when the repair is a panel either way.

no separate figure for a chip repair exists because there is none: S1 treats any breach of the surface as the assembly replacement, priced at $200-1,000 installed by surface type

the fault is under the glass, not in it [S2]

medium likelihood pro $255–$530 installed about 150 min

one zone stopped heating after the crack

The question the source says decides whether the replacement is worth doing at all: if a zone stopped heating after the crack, the surface is not the only casualty - the element, the wiring or the switch under it can be too, and a swap that does not fix the zone is a panel bought for nothing. S2 is the page that prices that side of the appliance, and its own number is the useful one here: a cooktop repair medians $339 across 122 completed jobs, so the diagnosis is worth having before the glass is ordered.

S2 prices the repair side of this appliance from completed jobs: burner $381 across 79 jobs and element repairs that come to a $339 median with the middle half at $255-530 across 122 cooktop repairs; no part-only figures are published

Repair or replace?

Find out what is under the glass before ordering a panel, because that is what decides the whole job: a top that cracked from an impact with everything below it working is a straightforward replacement, while a zone that stopped heating after the crack means the element or the wiring went with it and the panel may be money spent on the wrong fault. If the machine is mid-range or better, under about ten years old and otherwise sound, the replacement restores a $700-2,000 appliance for a few hundred dollars. If it is a budget machine at the end of its life, the source's advice is the same as this site's: put the $99 toward a new one. [S1]

the source's own framing of the decision: replacing the glass makes clear sense when the appliance is mid-range or better, under about ten years old and everything under the glass still works, because it restores a $700-2,000 appliance for a few hundred dollars. That $700-2,000 range is the machine value it uses, not a new-machine price list, and it is what the comparison on this page means

Run your own quote through the calculator — the same half-of-new-price rule with your numbers.

Do this first (free)

heat trapped under a pan that is too big, or too small [S1]

medium likelihood easy no part needed about 5 min

there is a chip at the edge that has started to spread the glass cracked while it was cooling down

The prevention the source puts at the end of the page, and the cause behind the cracks that have no single event behind them: heat that is trapped on one spot - by a pan wider than the zone, by an empty pan left to heat, or by a base that does not sit flat - stresses the surface unevenly every time the machine is used. The advice is to match the pan to the zone and to keep pot bottoms clean and dry, because both of those stop heat concentrating where the glass is weakest.

What each fix costs

CauseCostTimeDIY?
heat trapped under a pan that is too big, or too smallno part needed5 mineasy
impact damage, and why the whole top is the repair$200–$1,000 installed120 minpro
thermal shock, hot glass meeting something cold$200–$1,000 installed120 minpro
a chip or a hairline that has been spreading$200–$1,000 installed120 minpro
the fault is under the glass, not in it$255–$530 installed150 minpro

A technician visit starts with a diagnostic fee of $99 [S1]. Completed repairs run $255–$530 [S1].

Sources

  1. [S1] Bozmanfix (medians from 122 completed cooktop repairs plus published national ranges; page published August 2026) (2026-08). the finding that the glass top is an assembly rather than a pane, the installed bands by surface type (tempered glass $200-600, ceramic glass $400-1,000, induction $300-1,000) with the labour portion at $50-300 for a one to two hour swap, its own $339 median across 122 completed cooktop repairs with the middle half at $255-530 and the admission that this covers all cooktop repairs rather than glass swaps alone, the $99 applied diagnostic, the replacement rule (mid-range or better, under about ten years old and everything under the glass still working, restoring a $700-2,000 appliance), the honest note that it will say so and take only the $99 when replacement is the better answer, the temperature-shock and trapped-heat causes, and the prevention advice about matching the pan to the zone and keeping pot bottoms clean and dry
  2. [S2] Bozmanfix (medians from 317 completed cooktop repairs; page published September 2026) (2026-09). the repair side of the same appliance with job counts (burner $381 across 79 jobs, igniter $390 across 25, element will not heat at a $380 median across 17 jobs, cracked glass at a $644 median across 16 jobs and a $380-764 middle half), the $375 median across 317 completed cooktop repairs, and the note that a cracked ceramic surface is a different job from burner work because the panel is a single part whose price is set by the manufacturer

Last verified: 2026-09-17. Prices are US market figures from the sources above; your quote may differ.

About this page

Built from a fact record, not from a template: every number above is tied to one of the sources and the record is re-checked against them. Editorial choices (which symptom leads, which cause is the single tell) are kept in a separate block so the facts stay auditable.