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I have a non-induction electric stove with a Schott Ceran top. A piece of plastic fell on a hot burner, and when removed, took a dime-sized layer of glass with it:

chipped burner

The damage is very shallow, at most 1-2mm. The surrounding glass is fine and there are definitely no cracks (yet). We've been using the other burners of the stove on the assumption that heating this one could cause the damage to worsen.

All the guides I've seen online are for repairing cosmetic damage (chips around the edge, scratches, etc), or how to replace the whole top if there's a big crack all the way through. I looked for the part and a replacement top is going to run $600+, for a stove we paid $420 five years ago and would replace with a better model for about $800 today.

Do I have any good options here? We're OK with using the other 3 burners indefinitely, but eventually I want to rent the place out and can't tell a tenant they're not allowed to use part of the stove. It feels silly to replace the whole appliance because of this tiny ding.

FreeMan
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James B
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    Well, you don't want to be liable if something happens to a tenant because of the chip. If this was me, I'd be on Craigslist or FB Marketplace looking for a replacement. You say "stove" so I'm assuming you mean "range" and not "cooktop" (the latter will be harder to find). Otherwise, have you contacted Schott Ceran to get their opinion? – Huesmann Jul 14 '23 at 15:08
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    From what I have read, glass made to get hot, almost always needs replacement to be safe if it gets damaged in anyway, even if you cannot see the damage after it was dropped or had something dropped on it. I have a problem with a piece of plastic taking out a chip in glass. Plastic is used to clean glass so it does not scratch or break. – crip659 Jul 14 '23 at 15:17
  • I wouldn't trust this. Either unhook the burner so it can never be used, replace the top, or replace the stove. Unfortunately it was either done once the plastic hit the top, or whenever the technique you used to remove the plastic took glass with it. – KMJ Jul 14 '23 at 16:01
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    This (and breaking when you drop a pot/pan) are way up there in my top 10 reasons to consider glass-top stoves *not an advantage.* Yeah, sure, they are supposedly easier to clean. But they also become unrepairable junk due to entirely normal events that don't bother other stove types. – Ecnerwal Jul 14 '23 at 16:25
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    How do you define what a "Good option" is? We don't know what is "good" for you. That's an opinion and those kinds of questions are off-topic here. Pros & Cons is a good question to ask... – FreeMan Jul 14 '23 at 16:51
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    I don't believe there is any good repair solution for this. – keshlam Jul 14 '23 at 17:29
  • $600 on a non-induction cooktop would be throwing good money after bad. Put that toward an induction cooktop, and enjoy cooking again :) The burners actually respond to changes immediately, like a gas stove. And it's more efficient because it doesn't put heat anywhere but the pot, so cooler kitchen! – Harper - Reinstate Monica Jul 14 '23 at 18:33
  • Yes I mean "range"; I haven't tried to contact the manufacturer but I strongly suspect their answer will be "better safe than sorry, might as well buy a new one". Plastic was a spatula, tried to remove gently and the stuck on glass came up with it, with near zero lifting force. Would also love induction (we had one in Europe) but for some reason here in the US they're a luxury item and priced accordingly. – James B Jul 14 '23 at 19:59
  • It's possible to get lucky. House we bought had a kitchenette in the basement (POs used it for AirBnB) but no range—guess the AirBnB'ers must have beat it like a rented mule. I wanted to have a range there to backup the one in the main kitchen. I was able to find a guy on CL selling an induction range which he said the oven didn't work right. I bought it and found out the bake element had simply melted. I bought a new one for $60 or so and it's been fine since. – Huesmann Jul 15 '23 at 12:52

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With the popularity of ceramic top stoves, there is now a rather large market in used ones.

Check a few used appliance stores around you. I found a nice ceramic top stove in stainless for a rental property. It was only 2 years old, worked perfectly, no dents and cost about 1/3 of what it would new. The unicorn stoves can be found.

RMDman
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