Thermador is a common choice in newer South Bay custom kitchens, particularly the Freedom Induction cooktops and the 36" Pro Grand ranges. Both are serviceable, but both have their own quirks. I’ve been under Thermador ranges since before Bosch bought the brand, and the platform rewards a tech who knows which generation he’s looking at.
Common Thermador issues
- Freedom Induction — RF generator boards, user-interface board, thermal cutoffs
- Pro Grand ranges — ExtraLow simmer control, griddle thermostat, convection fans
- Wall ovens — thermal fuses, bake elements, door hinges, glass assemblies
- Refrigeration columns — compressors, evaporator fans, defrost heaters
We carry Thermador’s factory-trained diagnostic tools and can pull error logs directly from the mainboard on most post-2015 models.
The Star Burner, and why yours is clicking
Thermador’s pentagram-shaped Star Burner is the brand’s signature, and it’s a good burner — bigger flame perimeter, real ExtraLow simmer. It’s also the source of most of my Pro range calls. The burner clicks and won’t light, or lights and keeps clicking, or one port burns yellow. Nine times out of ten that’s not a broken part. It’s boil-over residue bridging the igniter electrode, or the burner cap sitting a millimeter off its seat after a cleaning. I pull the burners, clean the ports and electrode properly, re-seat everything, and check the spark module while I’m in there. When the igniter or module has actually failed — and on ranges past ten years they do — it’s a stocked part and a same-visit fix.
One South Bay wrinkle: if you’re west of Pacific Coast Highway, in the Hollywood Riviera or along the Esplanade, salt air gets into everything. I see corroded spark electrodes and rusted burner bases on beach-adjacent Thermadors five years before I see them inland. If you’re in that zone, an annual burner service is cheap insurance.
Questions I get on the phone
My Pro Grand oven takes forever to preheat. Normal? Somewhat — these are big, heavy cavities. But if a 350° preheat passes 25 minutes, I want to look at the convection fan and the bake igniter’s current draw. A tired igniter still glows while starving the gas valve.
Is the Freedom Induction worth fixing when a board goes? Usually yes, once. Generator boards run $500–$900 installed depending on the zone. Against a $5,000+ replacement cooktop, one board is an easy call. A second board failure on the same unit and we should talk honestly about it.
What does a typical Thermador repair cost? Igniter and burner work mostly lands $220–$420. Wall-oven elements and hinges, $250–$500. Refrigeration column work quotes after diagnosis — sealed-system jobs are real money on any built-in, and I’ll tell you straight whether the box justifies it. Most of these columns do; they’re built on a serious platform and parts support is strong.
Can you still get parts for my 1990s Thermador? Often, yes. Bosch has kept the legacy catalog alive better than most parent companies. Cooktop parts from the pre-1998 era get thin, and I’ll research availability before charging you a second visit.
Call (310) 220-4347 with the model number off the rating plate and I’ll tell you before I roll whether it’s a part I carry.
Thermador repair by city
For city-specific detail — neighborhoods, common home-types, landmarks we drive past — jump to your town: