How long should an oven, hob or countertop appliance last?

Whether to repair an appliance is a separate decision with its own arithmetic. What that decision needs first is a sense of whether the failure is early or on time, and which part has actually gone — because a common cheap part at year eight and a control board at year fourteen are very different situations wearing the same symptom.

Step by step

1. Set expectations for the fixed appliances.Built-in ovens and hobs: 10 to 15 years in a normal household. Extractor hoods: similar, and often longer, because the motor does little work. These are the appliances where a repair is most often worth doing, because the replacement cost includes installation.
2. Know what usually fails first on an oven.Heating elements, then the door seal, then the thermostat or its sensor, then the fan motor, and last the control board. The first four are common, comparatively cheap parts. A control board on a ten-year-old oven is where the arithmetic usually turns.
3. Know what usually fails first on a hob.On induction and ceramic, the touch control panel and individual zone drivers. On gas, ignition electrodes and flame supervision devices, both of which are engineer parts. Glass breakage from a dropped pan is the other common end, and it is not repairable.
4. Set expectations for microwaves and know the wear part.Seven to ten years. The magnetron is the wear item and it fails gradually — food takes longer than it used to before it stops heating altogether. Door components are the other common failure, and they take the appliance out of service permanently.
5. Set expectations for countertop appliances.Kettles and toasters 3 to 5 years and effectively disposable. Air fryers 3 to 6, with the non-stick coating usually going before the machine. Blenders 5 to 10 depending on how hard they are worked. Slow cookers and stovetop pressure cookers often 10 or more, because there is so little in them.
6. Recognise the maintenance that actually extends life.Descaling kettles and steam ovens, washing hood filters, emptying toaster crumb trays, replacing pressure cooker sealing rings, keeping oven door seals clean and intact, and not blocking any appliance's ventilation. Each of these targets the specific part that otherwise fails first.
7. Read a fault against the age.An element at year six is unlucky and worth fixing. A magnetron at year nine is on time and usually is not. A control board at any age on a cheap appliance is the end. The age is the context that turns a quote into a decision.
8. Check the warranty before assuming anything.Many appliances carry two to five years, and some manufacturers offer longer on specific components. Consumer rights in the UK can also extend beyond the stated warranty for a fault present from purchase, which is worth knowing before paying for a repair.

Tips

• Keep the model and serial number of every appliance in one note. It is what every parts search and every warranty claim starts with, and it is on a plate you can no longer reach once the appliance is installed.
• Photograph the rating plate at installation. Built-in appliances hide theirs behind doors, under drawers or inside cavities that are awkward to reach later.
• A cheap appliance that fails at three years and a good one that fails at twelve are not the same purchase. Cost per year is the honest comparison and it usually favours the middle of the range rather than either end.
• Register appliances with the manufacturer when you buy. It is what makes recall notices reach you, and cooking appliances do get recalled.

Questions people ask