Many will tell you it's time to replace. But I share your concern about finding something that will fit. The first thing you should do is find out if parts are still available - they may or may not be - if not, then the decision is simple. If they are, it MIGHT be worth getting a reliable repairman in to give you an estimate.

It really depends on what stopped working. Elements are easy and relatively cheap to replace. Burnt wiring takes a bit more effort.

Good news,

The oven has magically healed itself, and I found a local appliance repair shop that will diagnose the problem, if and when it re-occurs for $89--and give me a repair estimate --probably would have time in that estimate to remove it from cabinet enough to measure the exact cut out

I was dreading replacement--

25 years old may have a better chance for continued use than 10 or 15 if there isn't an overabundance of circuit boards and it uses lots of standard parts.
"Healing itself" after failing to work is sometimes a symptom of circuit boards making poor permanent contact in their sockets. At one time some commercial/industrial equipment maintenance would call for their boards to be reseated on a regular basis to fight this problem. Of course, if not done with a lot of care and caution, much bigger problems could be the result.

You are lucky, I have a 24" Jenn Air double wall oven set in brick, that is 20+ years old, and playing up. The only replacement I can find is a Maytag.

I'm replacing mine and it will cost less than $1,500 installed. You will spend more in repairing than replacing in the long run. I put a thermocouple in the top oven the oven to see how out is was. Set the oven to 350F and watched the readout - it got as high as 672F before settling down to ~400F.

A 1/4 of a century of service is pretty good for any electrical oven, let it go to the recycling yard.

Do you have a double wall oven or the oven and microwave combo? Our 20 year old, double, 27" JennAir is an oven on the bottom and a microwave on top. I did a quick search and found only 7 options that would even remotely fit in our cut out, and I am sure some of them would still involve more altering of the cabinetry.

We have a 27" Oven/convection oven on top, regular oven on the bottom.

I can't imagine why the industry does not work around a common cut out dimension--they would sell a lot more replacement ovens if people had broad choices and no need to do new cabinets.

jwats - sometimes old and obsolete it better than new. I have a friend who is repairing an ancient Maytag washer as it is one of the few that works on her spinned wool - it is worth it to her.

the latest symptom is a broiler that works sporadically. One of the above posts suggests that this could be a circuit board that is not seating correctly..would it make sense to replace the board if parts are available? Or, simply have it serviced?

as always , advice welcomed!

John

"I can't imagine why the industry does not work around a common cut out dimension"

They do.

This is just an old odd ball.

I have a 24" jenn air double wall oven installed in the early 90's. Before my husband passed on 3 separate occasions, he prevented himself from falling by grabbing the top oven door. Eventually warped the door. Now, I cannot find a replacement. Both ovens work perfectly or would with new or used top oven door. Oven is black tempered glass, self cleaning. Would love to find a door before purchasing the whole unit. wandalentz@scottsboro.org. Thank you.

It may be worth your while to call a carpenter to see if the cabinet can be modified. I did this many years ago. I bought a home with a 24" gas double oven. We were able to remove blocking from the cabinet and install a 27" double oven. It all depends on the cabinet. It isn't an instant no. So, it's worth the call to a cabinet guy for an opinion.

I am the original poster and decided to replace the oven. As for the comment on the door above, I wondered if it could be straightened, no parts for old appliances are hard to find and if you, expensive