Sorry................time for the counter to go and free yourself for a widely available 36 inch five burner cook top. : )

Go get yourself a george foreman grill for now. I ordered Thermador for my kitchen in late Feb- March and nothing is delivered. Good luck finding a replacement tho, it seems that appliances are coming in quicker to the larger stores. Im happy you loved your cooktop. RIP old girl.

-I ordered a Thermador Freedom induction 36” cant wait to meet her.

Thanks for the input Jan but the countertop has to stay. I know most ppl don’t like tile but our midcentury is mostly original with tiled walls and we aren’t willing to change it.

M Riz, now I’m looking at the freedom induction and I’m starting to get excited about it. It seems cutting edge just like this old gal was back then. We’re using the little grill now and lots of crockpot. Thanks for the heads up on lead time. Very excited for you to meet your cooktop.

How about pairing the Jenn-Air JIC4430XS 30" induction cooktop (there are other models) with the 15" Jenn-Air JIE4115GS wok element, Jenn-Air JEF3115GS griddle, or Jenn-Air JIC4715GS two-element cooktop as described in the Installation Instructions page 5?

There is the Viking RVEC3456BSB
45 Inch Electric Smoothtop Cooktop (not induction, obviously).

You could always pair something useful with an induction. Here's a fav of mine because I do have propane and it would be great when the power goes out.

Induction Mixes with Gas Cooktop · More Info

Oh yes excellent idea for when the power goes.

Is this also shallower than modern cooktops? It's possible that this could be refurbished by someone who specializes in antique and vintage cooking appliances.

Also is that two inch tile? Keystones probably has sympathetic if not matching colors.

Not that this will help with your design, but if the cleaners did something accidentally that caused this, you may want to file an insurance claim if you have replacement value.

Thermador also has a 45"

Ebay looks like a source for the parts.

Oh, that is a beauty. Gorgeous tile too. Maybe an electrician can repair it? I would think the guts are not complicated or proprietary to Thermador, but maybe I'm wrong.

I have a stainless steel counter & needed a new cooktop. Nothing currently on the market would fit in the large cutout, so my installer had a friend fabricate a stainless steel collar (or as he called it, a Hudee Ring). It's not a work of art, but it does the job well. Scout around to see if you can find a fabricator locally. Or look into Summit Trim Kits. I love my new 30 inch Wolf induction cooktop, btw.

Thanks for all the replies. We did file a claim so we’re good there. We really did think about getting it repaired or ordering a used one off eBay but as we kicked the idea around it just felt like this has to be the end.

I was actually very lucky that the explosion didn’t burn me as I had happened to step back. The electrician also pointed out that with the amount of electric running through the unit if it shorted while someone was touching it that could be a disaster.

We’ve learned so much since the 50s and the reality is it doesn’t feel like the safety risk is worth the repair now that we have toddlers in the house. But man, appliances back then sure were built to last.

I’ll now be perusing options and all your suggestions for a few days… I’ll update!

Palimpsest, it is a little bit shallower and yes it’s 2” tile. We’ve used keystones elsewhere and with the right mix I’m sure we could camouflage it.

We are in a sort of similar situation with a refurbished Chambers cooktop and wall oven (and a modern electric oven as well) and when we are remodeling the kitchen which will take a while given our history, I am going to get the cooktop up and running and make sure it is properly adjusted and we like using it before fabricating the countertops.

@bmorepanic: Thermador also has a 45"

Please provide model number.

before deciding on induction, and which induction, you should make sure you have enough power to the cooktop to even be able to install - many require 50 amps.