Our home, built in 1977, was originally equipped with a Jenn Air downdraft cooktop. We purchased the home in 1994 and have used this original Jenn Air cooktop for the past 12 years without a single problem. We did purchase a burner conversion to replace the grill portion, as we find the 4 burners more useful. The bottomline is that this 1977 Jenn Air downdraft cooktop has given dependable service, with no known repairs, for almost 30 years. I call that "good value" for your dollar. We are now going to replace it with a new Jenn Air JED 4830DBF cooktop, as we feel the original cooktop has provided more than its expected "lifetime of service".

This is an "update" on the above guide which I wrote earlier. The new Jenn Aire JED 4830 cooktop was installed in March 2007 and we've been using it now for about 6 weeks. While it takes just alittle longer to heat an item than the old Jenn Aire caloric units did, it's not excessive and just takes a bit of getting use to.  We bought the unit on Ebay through the Built in Appliance store in Houston, TX for a price of $879 (the cooktop came with free shipping)and then  we applied for the Jenn Aire Co. rebate of $75, so the cost of the new cooktop was $804. delivered to our door.  The retail for this unit at your local dealer is $1200-$1300. I recommend you check with Built In Appliance in Houston, if you intend to buy one of these units.......... and  I highly recommend this cooktop.

Further update as of March 2008:  This Jenn Aire JED 4830 cooktop has been installed for just over 1 year now. It looks as good as the day it was installed, we've had no problems or repairs, it's easy to keep clean, easy to cook on, and provides a clean and attrative appearance for a necessary appliance. We continue to be totally satisfied with this cooktop.