Home » Oven Safety » How safe is your Oven Door? Exploding Oven door glass is more common than you think!

How safe is your Oven Door? Exploding Oven door glass is more common than you think!

exploding oven door glassIs your oven door about to explode?

I received a call to do a cleaning on a KitchenAid double wall oven where the inside glass panel on the oven door exploded for no apparent reason. Upon arrival, a majority of the glass was cleaned up but there was still a lot of small pieces of glass imbedded into every crevice as well as the interior of the oven was coated with a fine layer of glass dust and particulates. The owners stated they had some remodeling work done recently and the contractor turned the ovens self clean mode on when the glass exploded. My first reaction was the contractor did something to cause this but the owner stood firm as this was not the case.

While I hadn’t personally seen the glass on an oven door shattered before, I have heard of it happening. In my research to see what would cause this it came to light that this is a more common issue than I realized. But how does this happen – how can the glass explode for no apparent reason? Isn’t the glass tempered and supposed to be stronger than normal glass?

Is it common for oven door glass to explode for no reason?

I did some research online and could not find an exact number of complaints filed each year. There didn’t seem to be one manufacturer with more complaints over another or if it was more common for the interior glass to explode over the exterior glass or vice-verse. While there appears to be no centrally documented place where the majority of complaints are made, I did notice there are hundreds of complaints littering the web from people with all the same testimonial of hearing an explosion in their kitchen and finding a million pieces of glass all over their kitchen floor. A few complaints that the glass exploded during the self clean mode while quite a few complained the glass exploded when they hadn’t even used the oven in a few days.

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In this consumer news breif by KOMO channel 4 News in Seattle they state “Repair experts point out that the number of glass shattering cases is relatively small compared to the millions of ovens on the market. But, given the pages of federal incident reports, consumer who’ve dealt with the problem wonder why there have been no safety alerts.”

What is tempered glass?

The glass on your oven door is tempered. Tempered glass by definition according to the National Glass Association (NGA) “A strong break-resistant type of safety glass that, if broken, shatters into small granular pieces. Glass heat-treated to withstand greater than normal forces on its surface” Uhh..sure, that explains a lot!? How about – Tempered glass is manufactured using high heat and a rapid cool down making it four to five times stronger than normal glass. When tempered glass breaks it is designed to “explode” into small oval shaped pebbles or pieces instead of shards. Tempered glass can withstand high heat and heavy loads but can also be very brittle especially around the edges and when subjected to blunt force from something with a point.

What causes tempered glass to break?

During the process of tempering the glass is heated upwards of 720 degrees and rapidly cooled using cool air to change its molecular structure. It is not uncommon for the glass to develop small unseen stress fractures during this process. These stress fractures may break during the tempering process or may never break, there’s just no guarantee what will happen or when.

What are the manufacturer’s doing about this?

The typical universal statement will be “We take consumer safety serious”; yadda-yadda but what are you doing about it? Other than “looking into the matter” and in a few cases replacing the glass for free, they are basically doing nothing about it. Why? Because there isn’t anything they can do about it; they have no control over the glass making process nor can they guarantee the glass won’t ever break.

Check your owner’s manual Care and Use guide. The manufacturers have included a statement essentially stating the glass would be replaced if damaged within the first year of installation but after that it would be considered customer failure and abuse and all costs to replace the glass would fall upon the owner.

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How can you prevent glass breakage?

You can’t fix what you can’t see right? While there are may not be anything you can do due to the unforeseen stress fractures in the glass, you can help prevent creating new fractures or help prevent the existing fractures from expanding by:

  • Don’t slam or let the oven door slam closed
  • Make sure the racks are fully pushed in before closing the door
  • Don’t drop hard or sharp objects on the door when its open (I know, stupid comment)
  • If the edges of the glass are exposed on the outside of the door make sure you protect them from pots and pans or hard objects.
  • Don’t drip cold liquids onto the glass when it’s hot.
  • Don’t use your self-clean feature (Yes, I said it!)

*The self clean mode heats the oven upwards of 900 to 1200 degrees (glass is tempered at roughly 720 degrees) The high heat of the self clean mode may affect the structure of the glass over time if you use your self clean mode frequently.

Nobody intends to accidentally drop anything on their oven door or hit it with a sharp object but know that if you do, you might not cause or see any damage today but one day your glass may explode for no apparent reason and you can look back and wonder.

What to do if your oven door glass explodes

  1. Take pictures of the damage and surrounding area
  2. Call the manufacturer and file a complaint
  3. File a complaint with the Consumer Product Safety Commission
  4. If your oven warranty has expired, be prepared to pay for the replacement yourself.
  5. Thoroughly vacuum and deep clean your oven by hand. Do not use the self clean mode with the glass missing! There may be chunks of glass in between the door and cabinet frame, glass dust and small particulates inside the convection fan cover or coating the upper heating element. You want to make sure no glass residue gets into your food.

Conclusion

If you are in the market to purchase a new oven I highly recommend reading online reviews or getting a copy of Consumer Reports and researching what other buyers are saying. Sure, there may be an oven you have your mind set on because it looks nice or has some bells and whistles but if there are a lot of complaints than maybe you should be looking at a different model.

Have you ever experienced your oven door glass exploding? If so, tell me about it and what did you do to get it replaced?

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178 Responses so far.

  1. […] brand of oven and not new. But seriously the explosion sounds so crazy!”According to Prestige BBQ and Oven Cleaning, while compared to the millions of ovens that are sold and operated by consumers in the United […]

  2. […] response to Status BBQ and Oven Cleansing, whereas in comparison with the hundreds of thousands of ovens which can be bought and operated by […]

  3. […] to Prestige BBQ and Oven Cleaning, while compared to the millions of ovens that are sold and operated by consumers in the United […]

  4. […] to Prestige BBQ and Oven Cleaning, while compared to the millions of ovens that are sold and operated by consumers in the United […]

  5. Terry Gillmore says:

    I had my family at my house on the weekend and Saturday night I was making supper for them and it was a 89.57 cent roast. It was about half way cooked when I Hurd a boom and glass falling all over the kitchen behind me . Then I Hurd a kid start screaming and here was my little five year old grand daughter standing in front of my kitchen aid double in wall oven. She was covered in glass and a few she was bleeding from and I almost shit my self. Her mother was standing beside her and said neither of them did nothing it just blasted on its own. We cleaned up my grand baby and had a good look at her and she had lots of cuts on her but none deep enough for stitching. I’m pissed off if I had known that the glass had blown off other stoves like mine I would have never got them. I find this as a hazard to any one it could have been a lot worse with my grand daughter if it would have hit her in the eyes. I’m trying to find a company that can fix it for me because the company that made it don’t have the outer glass for my stove no more and it sounds like no one really gives a shit. The stove is a XS4105461 and the other number is KEBC208KSS03 oven with a warming drawer in the bottom if any one know what I can do or where to get help please email me and let me know. Thanks for your time… I live in Canada 1-647-466-3418 if any one has info for me or if I didn’t say it was the outer glass on my top oven.

  6. Roksana says:

    We were watching a TV show at night when we heard something like a gunshot and saw that the exterior glass of our now 4-year old Frigidaire shatter into pieces. We had baked on it earlier at 375 degrees, but it was cooled at this point. Very unnerving experience and we are reaching out to the manufacturer to see what they can do for us as I assume there isn’t an extended warranty on this appliance. This is truly unacceptable, and something must be done about it.

    • Thank you for your comment! Yes, very unnerving and somewhat disorienting when you hear the noise and find the glass everywhere. You’re not sure what happened or why? Most manufacturers will not warranty the glass especially if the oven is outside of its warranty period. It’s a shame. They know this happens all the time but refuse to do anything about it. Sorry this happened!

  7. Mike says:

    My putter glass shattered in the middle of the night I have a gas range fridgidaire stove used it to make dinner around 3pm and was off the rest of the night our temp in my area dropped to about 18 degrees last night and my kitchen gets to feeling that cold due to there being spaces and gaps in the door so woke up this morning to glass shattered all over the kitchen floor and would u guess no one believes “It just happened”

  8. Virginia Laugesen says:

    Our outer oven door shattered with a loud explosion on 13 April 2021. The oven was off but had been used earlier that evening for a short time on low heat, and used the day before without incident. I note some on here have had the inner door explode but the outer door doing so makes less sense.
    I looked into replacing the glass but got such poor service following my enquiry that I have replaced the oven instead. It was 21 years old but in good working condition. I just didn’t trust a glass replacement, though there’s no guarantee new glass won’t explode, regardless of oven age, brand, use or condition.
    The problem now is claiming insurance – always a problem, of course. I would have been covered if I replaced the glass (not easy, time-consuming and likely up to $300 plus labour, according to Google). I now have a new problem – after 21 years of paying insurance, because I replaced the oven instead of risking replacement glass it seems I won’t have a case.

  9. Nicole says:

    We just had our new Samsung self-cleaning oven/range delivered from Best Buy on Tuesday March 30, 2021. Today, Thursday April 1, 2021 we installed it and turned the oven on to 400F for an hour to do the oven burn off. At the end of the hour, the inner glass door shattered. Best Buy is sending a replacement on Monday and picking up this broken one. Samsung nor Best Buy could tell us why this happened, but better yet, they both said they had never heard of this happening. Prior to buying this Samsung oven/range, we had researched and had known that this exploding glass does happen in Frigidaire, LG, GE, Whirlpool etc. but didn’t come across any reviews in the Samsung model. So, here’s hoping oven #2 from Samsung doesn’t have the same issues. Not a funny April fool’s joke either… Have been without an oven/range for 3 weeks now because our old Premier range of 20+ years was hauled away when we purchased a different oven that was returned for different malfunctions as well. We never had any of these issues with our Premier oven/range. We wish we had it back now.

    • Betty cissell says:

      I also have a Samsung electric range , have had it for 3 weeks. Put on self clean and the glass between the 2 glasses shattered. I called Samsung and a repairmen is coming Tuesday. When I asked if this happened to anyone else they said they haven’t heard of any.

  10. Sean Lincoln says:

    We received a GE gas range just yesterday. We had it converted and hooked up. Everything was working just fine until this evening when I was preheating the oven for the first time. Had it set for 350 and it didn’t make it, there was a sudden loud bang and the inner glass exploded. I could not get ahold of any help as it is Sunday night and service is closed. I bough the oven through Home Depot online.

  11. SerenaO says:

    Hi Mike,

    Your posting is a savior to me. We got a Bosch oven (model: HBA13B253A)

    Tenants say the oven outer door just exploded by itself.
    When we went to check, the inner glass looks ok. No cracks at all.
    And the oven looks pretty clean, doesn’t look like they use it before.

    This oven got triple glasses ( there is another glass between outer door and inner door) The first two layer glass has been missing. But the inner door glass is ok.

    I’m really confused with the cause of it. The oven is about 4 years old. I know oven won’t last forever, but I think it should last bit longer.

    I’ve got photos of it if you need.

  12. Thomas Hall says:

    Our oven doors inner glass exploded and the manufacturer (Miele) wants $541 to replace the piece and over a month to get it from Germany. I checked with my local glass company and the told me temperd glass is all the same so I ordeeed a piece of temperd glass from. That cost was $40, got it the next day and it exploded the first time we tried to use it. The oven was at 350. Now, I don’t know what to do. The cost is way too high for a 15” x 23” piece of glass.

    • Thomas,
      Thank you for your comment. Sorry to hear about the glass exploding…twice! I’ll be honest, I’m not entirely familiar with Miele to know if their glass is simply “regular” tempered glass or some other form of tempered. In most cases a regular ‘ol piece of tempered glass should be sufficient enough as a replacement. Could you get a bad piece from the glass company? Sure you could. Maybe when the piece of glass was heated up there was a bubble or micro-chip? Maybe when the glass was installed it was handled incorrectly? Maybe the screws or bolts holding the glass in place were tightened down too tight?

      For the cost of another piece of tempered glass, I would give that another shot to see if you just got a bad piece in the first place. If that one fails, maybe call a local repair company Miele recommends to see if they have any sources or ideas to recommend.

      I hope this helps somewhat.

  13. Sonya Hernandez says:

    My GE gas range is 1 month old. We recently purchased it at Home Depot in Castle Rock and this evening the oven door glass exploded. I had just pulled out a loaf of bread (oven heated at 400) 15 minutes prior to the sudden explosion. We were having dinner when we heard a loud pop and glass breaking. I have never heard of this issue and have NEVER had any problems with my ovens. We work for government so have lived in various locations nationwide. I will start the warranty research tomorrow morning. I’m extremely disappointed to find out this is a “thing”…ongoing issue that has not been resolved. What a waste of resources having to replace these glass doors and possibly damaging ovens.

    • Sonya,
      Thank you for your comment, sorry to hear about the glass exploding, especially on a 1 month old oven. I hope GE takes care of you and would love to hear their response and how or if they will resolve this for you.

  14. Colleen says:

    I am so disappointed that major companies get by with intentionally making products with shorter use/life spans to ensure the consumer has to continue to replace them. We had our last oven over 20 years and the new Frigidaire just cleared 3 years when the glass shattered in the door. I had never had that happen with any other oven or even heard of it. I was quoted $390 to repair it, the oven was purchased on a sale for $526 with tax thee years ago. It seems like it would be better to replace it but are there any brands that do better with this issue? It scared my daughter pretty badly.

    • Colleen,
      Thank you for your comment! This might sound like a silly response but if you are asking if any “brands” in the sense of the mass produced “brands” like GE, LG, Samsung, Frigidaire, JennAir, Whirlpool, KitchenAid, etc than probably not since most of them are all owned by the same conglomerate.

      Doing a quick search online I came across this information:

      Whirlpool Corporation owns the Jenn-Air, Maytag, Amana, Roper, and KitchenAid brands. Brands share parts, factories, and even designs—but exist for different target audiences.
      Electrolux company currently owns Frigidaire
      GE was purchased by the Chinese-owned Haier company in 2016. Today, Haier manufactures GE, Hotpoint, Cafe, Profile, and Monogram branded household appliances.
      Samsung owns Dacor but both are made independently of each other
      LG looks to be owned by an Asian or overseas company
      Kenmore, whose products are all manufactured by other appliance companies. Kenmore draws up the specs and the design, but Whirlpool, LG, or Electrolux creates the actual products.

      So, as you can see, to answer if there are any brands that do better with this issue really comes down to who is making the appliance.

  15. Elsie says:

    Hello, yesterday my brother & sister-in-law-s whole outer oven door exploded with glass everywhere. The oven was not in use so was not hot. She called to tell me about it and said she could still hear glass shifting. I thought she meant in the door. My Mom happened to arrive there about that time and she described it as pieces of glass on the floor were acting like “Mexican jumping beans!” Have you ever heard of this? This oven is certainly past warranty but I don’t know by how much.

    • Elsie,
      Thanks for the comment. Your description of a “Mexican jumping Bean” does make sense. Since the glass is tempered, it’s put under a lot of high pressure during the tempering process. Once the glass shatters the “jumping” is essentially the glass still releasing that tension giving it the appearance of moving and jumping. ~ Mike

    • David John says:

      We own a Frigidaire Electric Range–model number: FGEF3035RF and the outer glass just exploded on our range door on 9/2/20. This unit is just barely 3 years old. I called Frigidaire and they were unwilling to do anything substantial–willing to pay 50% for new glass replacement. It seems that they are aware of this being a problem the more I spoke to them. And it is obvious that this is problem based on this site. I explained to them that I wanted a full refund for what I paid and that I do not want this unit in my house. How do I know that this will not happen again. Fortunately, no one was standing in front of the range when this happened. What will Frigidaire or another manufacturer do when someone just happens to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and the glass seriously injures them–shot into their eyes or other parts of their body, knocks them down and they fall on the glass, they are startled and fall on the glass. After all of these known complaints and they have done nothing?? There is a class action site on the internet for this very problem-glass exploding on ovens–just Google it and you will find it.

      • Thanks for the comment David! For some reason, I feel the manufacturers will do nothing till they are forced to do something. What a lot of us don’t understand or think about is a lot of the “major” brands are made by the same parent company. Most likely all the glass on all brands they manufacture is from the same supplier. They can change suppliers but till they (the manufacturer) comes down hard on the supplier to make changes I’m assuming both parties will continue to do business as usual. Nothing will change till one or both parties begins to see a financial hit to the bottom line as a result of exploding glass.

  16. Carter Morris says:

    My Bosch built in microwave Speed Oven melted a half dollar size hole in the glass door and shattered both the inside and outside glass pannels. The microwave oven was not on at the time but we were baking in the Bosch convection oven below the microwave. Any ideas what may have caused this??

  17. Mary Baker says:

    Bought my Jenn-air double oven last November. Top oven inside glass exploded the first time it was self cleaned several weeks ago. After several warranty service calls, the oven glass and the interior of the door was replaced. (The shattered glass damaged the finish on the door.).

    Was uncomfortable that glass dust would now blow around when I used the convection setting but was assured by Jenn-air and the authorized repairs service that I should not be concerned. One of the repair techs cleared a few pieces of glass that were caught between front and back of the door but neither considered it their role to wipe down the interior of the oven to enhance the cleaning we had already done

    This weekend, the new glass in the oven shattered. This time, while I was about to bake some pizza.

    To my great amazement, Jenn-air offered to repair the — still under warranty — oven. When I asked how the rep was sure the problem wouldn’t happen again, she said, of course, she could not be sure. Told her no dice. Second offer was to buy back the oven at full purchase price but not reimburse for installation.

    Looks like I’m in the market for a new double oven but have no clue which to buy.

  18. I believe this is Engineering related – literally a material defect. Glass on an oven door takes repeated loading – fatigue loading. Also, thermal stresses develop due to the boundary conditions of the frame – binding. The upper thermal limit of tempered glass is quite low at ~ 450 F, but ovens reach this temperature all the time during routine use. The three conditions above are not a function of strength, which is one premise of tempered glass – it is stronger. It may be able to take a higher impact force, but this is not static strength related, and under temperature loading this condition is more complicated. Another premise of tempered glass is it breaks into small pieces and not large shards. Ovens are not automobiles traveling at high speeds – therefore not a dynamic load condition. My belief is tempered glass is incorrectly used ubiquitously in the appliance industry where Quartz glass or PyroCeram glass is more apt. Tempered glass could be used if isolated from cyclical heat loading and again from strain of secondary forces – using a more stiff door and keeping the glass from the load path may help. Lastly, a more traditional, true ‘safety glass’, could also be used here – one which uses resin between the glass layers. In closing: Tempered glass is not safety glass and it is incorrectly being used in high thermal cycle and strain conditions above its safe operating temperature. After working 20 years in the Aerospace industry, worthy of a thick book, I am now an independent Engineer. I will gladly work with anyone that ‘get’s it’ and shares the profits.

    Have a nice day,
    Michael McKenzie

    • Thank you for the comment Michael! To hear this from an engineering perspective is interesting to me. Being one who has worked with both tempered glass and safety glass before I can totally understand what you’re talking about. I would agree that tempered glass is probably not the best to use in this situation but it is certainly a cheaper option than safety glass and probably more readily available in terms of procurement for the manufacturers. It might also be a situation where they’ve always used tempered glass so why change? I know safety glass in terms of a glass door leading into a retail store or the glass on the storefront. It is meant to protect the consumer from going thru the glass if they fell or walked into it. I don’t know enough about safety glass to know if there is a heat limit to the resin or if the resin will begin to react to the constant temperature change?

      I think bottom line is this. The manufacturers are looking to make their ovens as inexpensive as possible (not necessarily as cheap as possible). To add the cost of safety glass would go against their bottom line. Most manufacturers know this is a problem but simply don’t care and have no desire to fix it because most oven doors – when or if they break – do so after the warranty has expired and it is no longer an expense of the manufacturer.

      Thank you for joining the conversation ~ Mike

      • sharon says:

        Hi Mike & Michael, I am researching kitchen appliances for my impending kitchen renovation and came across the exploding oven door reviews. Thank you for increasing my understanding. Do you think that the same glass explosions could occur in the newly popular induction cooktops? I am beginning to think I should remain old fashioned and get a gas cooktop and non pyrolytic oven as they are more likely to last longer. What do you think? Sharon

        • Sharon, thank you for joining the conversation. I apologize it’s taken me a few days to respond to you, I didn’t receive a notification that you left a comment. I personally have not encountered any glass cooktops “exploding”. I have a glass cooktop surface on my range and have had it for almost 4yrs and never experienced any problems with it. Like anything, you have to take care of it and not drop heavy pots and pans onto it. A gas cooktop will always be more efficient in heating (in my opinion) than a glass cooktop.

          As for the oven. If you have no need to use the self clean mode on the oven and it is a feature you can live without than no need to purchase an oven with that feature. I honestly did not know you could buy an oven without that feature these days but again, I haven’t had to look at ovens for the last 4yrs. ~ Mike

  19. Karen Felske says:

    Hi My Kitchen aid gas oven door exploded as well. I havent contacted them yet . I’ve had the oven about 8-10 years now. I’m in Canada. Not sure if they’ll help with this.

    • Hello Karen, sorry to hear about your oven. Unfortunately KitchenAid probably won’t do much other than tell you to call a repair person because of the age of the oven. If it’s an interior piece of glass it should be relatively easy to get replaced. If it’s the exterior glass panel that may be harder to replace unless KitchenAid still carries that style of panel. I hope your able to get this resolved ~ Mike

  20. Anastasia Murray says:

    Hi I purchased a self cleaning GE gas ranch almost 3 yrs.I haven’t used the oven in almost a month.My husband and I were in our bedroom and we just heard this loud sound.I jumped up and went in the kitchen to see what the sound could be.I stood in horror to see the oven glass on the ground.I got so confused.I don’t even know where to look to replace the glass for it.I’m from Trinidad in the Caribbean. If anyone can refer me to where I can get the glass replaced for this serial number 317B6641P001.Thanks

  21. Nancy says:

    I just moved into my grandmothers house and she has an OLD stove – Hardwick Debutante. Upper oven a little smaller than the lower oven. I don’t know how many times she’s cooked in the thing (countless) and I’ve cooked in it several times since I moved in. It was in the house when she moved in 20 years ago and I’m not sure how long before then but I’m sure it was put in new. Anyway. I was cooking in the top oven tonight and heard a loud pop and lots of crackling. Inner glass had shattered – thankfully no broken glass on the outside and the inner glass didn’t completely “explode”, just shattered and is still in place at the moment. Of course there were tiny little glass shards visible in my food so that’s trash lol. Since it’s so old I’m not sure I’ll even be able to find a glass for it anymore…that’s my story. I had never heard of it either until I googled it and found this article.

    • Hello Nancy, That’s a stove that has served very well, thanks for sharing! I’m sure a lot of memories have been baked in that oven? Sorry to hear the glass shattered, maybe a local glass fanricator can produce a new piece for you?

  22. Mandy says:

    I woke up this morning and walked into the kitchen to see glass shards on the floor under my oven. I looked at the oven and noticed that the tempered glass inside of the oven door had shattered. What is so weird about this is that I have double ovens and hardly ever use the lower oven at all. I cannot tell you the last time I even turned the lower oven on or opened the door to it. It is a JennAir so I will contact them but I wanted to share my experience…

    • Hello Mandy, thank you for sharing your experience. Boy, if the lower oven shattered when you never use it that might mean that the glass already had a micro fracture. Maybe if the upper door was alowed to be slammed closed it might have vibrated the lower door enough to push the fracture past the breaking point?

  23. Jan L says:

    I have a 4 month old Whirlpool double oven. I was using the self clean cycle the first time and the inside glass exploded. I’ve vacuumed and cleaned several times and still wipe up glass dust inside. It is covered by warranty and they are replacing the door. However I’m concerned that I can’t get all the glass dust removed from inside he oven. Whirlpool says if the tech can’t get the oven back to safety use to call them back. It’s scheduled to be replaced on Friday. We’ll see what happens.

    • Hello Jan, thank you for sharing. Yes, wiping all that dust can be challenging. It seems like the glass dust never ends or comes up. Hopefully the tech was able to get the oven back to using safely?

  24. Des says:

    Hello everyone , today I was so shaken because my oven’s glass door blew up while I was holding it. I was getting ready to put my lunch inside. I had just turned on the temperature & I half opened the door ( more like 1/3 opened) carefully as I always do because I take good care of my things.
    Then I heard a loud noise & I looked down to find my feet , kitchen floor as well as the inside of my oven was full of tampered glass .At first I thought it was a short circuit that caused it & that my kitchen stove is dangerous. I must say that I am still shocked because I imagined what my face would look like if I was closer to the door since I was about to put the food inside. But now I see that the problem is fairly common ,even to newer stoves than mine ( I have mine for many years). I have read your previous comments & I have only one question to ask : is it safe to use the oven now? Or should I get a new one without bothering to repair it ?
    Thank you in advance.

    • Hello Des, Thank you for sharing your experience! The glass in the door acts in a few different ways. 1) It acts as a balance and weight for the door. You might notice the door want’s to close easier or quicker then it did before. The glass helps weigh the door down while it’s in the fully open position. 2) It helps insulate the heat. The glass will still get hot but the multiple pieces act to keep the outside glass from getting too hot to touch. Can you use the oven with out the glass? I’m sure you can. The manufacturer would probably say not to for safety reasons. You may be able to get the glass replaced from a local glass supplier? I hope this helps?

  25. Rachel says:

    The glass of Inner layer of my 3-year-old GE oven just exploded ten minutes after I baked my pizza, of which I already turned it off. I was shocked. and I called GE customer service and was told out of warranty… very surprising and upset experience. BTW, I am in Canada….?

    • Sorry to hear about your glass shattering Rachel. It doesn’t surprise me GE is failing to take care of their customer. They know they have a problem but are hiding behind the warranty. They’re putting the warranty ahead of the consumer.

  26. Mary says:

    I was in dining room and husband was in living room when we heard a pop and then what sounded like millions of marbles hitting the floor. The outside glass in our oven had exploded all over kitchen. Oven was not on nor was it even warm. Oven is only 4 years old but I know it’s out of wartenty and we will have to pay to get it replaced. It’s a Kenmore and we will call Sears to let them know what happened. How disappointing. Nothing seems to last these days while my grandparents 40+ year stove is still going strong!

    • Hello Mary,
      Thank you for sharing your experience, sorry to hear the glass exploded. It baffles me that the glass decides to explode when the ovens not in use. Maybe with the cold weather this time of year has an effect on the glass? I would agree, appliances made 40 years ago definitely hold up or held up better. But, I’m sure there was a corporate decision made at one time to make the appliances easier to break to force us to buy new appliances more often. The appliance companies wouldn’t make as much money if they made them to last for years and years.

  27. Janice Dillon says:

    The insides of my oven door glass is so dirty that I cannot see thru it when baking. I found your article when searching for directions to get the door apart. Now Im thinking perhaps I’d better live with the grunge for now…EWwww. 🙁 I’m also wondering if the reason it’s grungy in there is because the inner glass is damaged? I’ve been using oven cleaner on it for 10years without knowing any better. This all makes me want to go buy a new stove, but won’t have the extra cash for that for a couple months. Any suggestions?

    • Hello Janice, Sorry for the delay in responding. It would be hard for me to answer this question without seeing the glass myself. I’ve seen a lot of doors where the outside glass was relatively clean but the inside glass was disgustingly dirty. How? Not sure. There are vent holes in most doors at the top and bottom of the door to allow heat to travel thru the door. These vents also allow liquid to drip down into the door and onto the glass inside. Over time and constant baking this liquid will crust and burn onto the glass turning it brown and reddish in color. I’ve taken a lot of doors apart to clean the inside glass just to have the glass be discolored from heat and burnt drippings.
      Depending on the brand of oven you have the door may have vent slots in the bottom. If you do not feel comfortable taking the door off the oven and taking the door apart you can try the wire coat hanger and a wet paper towel way. Slide the towel up thru the vent slot and use the coat hanger to slide the towel around. You will need to unwrap the coat hanger to straighten it out but leave the hook on the end to pull the paper towel back out. It’s a little more difficult and not a perfect clean but I’ve had to do this method on doors where I couldn’t get screws to turn on the door to take them apart.

  28. Donald White says:

    Our KitchenAid oven glass shattered tonight during a 2hr minimum self-clean. This is my first introduction to the issue of “exploding oven door glass”, I am going to give the KitchenAid customer service line a call tomorrow, and hope they will back up their product. Let you know how it goes.

  29. Jason says:

    Everdure Model OBEG61. Oven door exploded last night and although the oven is 6 years old, it has been used less than 5 times. Being in a small apartment we just don’t use the oven but obviously we either should have used it as much as possible during warranty, or just prepared ourselves to eat lamb with glass.

  30. Dee Williams says:

    This is so discouraging. The outer glass of our Kenmore shattered last night while I was taking out a pizza. The handle dropped suddenly and the glass shattered immediately – all so fast I’m not sure which happened first. After calling 3 different 800 numbers (all out of country!!) and getting no help except an offer to repair at my expense, I called the local Sears store where we purchased the oven. After being on hold for over 10 minutes I was promised that the manager would call me when he was free. That was 2-1/2 hours ago. The Safety Institute has recommended a recall on ovens that include my model because they’ve had so many complaints, but Kenmore has insisted they are safe and refuse to do anything about it that would represent a savings or benefit to the customer. I’m looking at other models in case we choose to simply replace the oven, but these reports don’t give me any hope of avoiding a similar experience. Why can’t companies make a product they will stand behind with confidence (and more than a 3 year warranty!!)??

  31. Whitney says:

    I have owner my Frigidaire Gallery over for about 5 years. Yesterday I decided to use the self clean function for the first time. After about 20mins into the self clean, I heard a loud pop… The interior glass of the oven had shattered. FYI the manufacturer will not replace / repair because there is no warranty.. So be prepared to pay! When I asked them to explain to me how performing a function that is provided by the manufacturer was my fault, I was told a list of service providers that could come out at my cost. I will not be purchasing from them in the future. Also, a side note.. Had a microwave from Frigidare. Same series and had to replace that also about two years ago. Oven model: FGEF3042KFG. Micro model : FGMV174KFG

  32. Bob says:

    My oven glass exploded yesterday. That was after I threw a heavy metal object at it in anger. I’m so proud of myself. :/

  33. Courtney says:

    Hi,I just finished up making dinner & I heard a loud noise, to find out the door on my oven shattered, I am in complete shock we have only owned our glass top stove for about 2Yrs now, I am very disappointed about this.. But also lucky no one was hurt, How do I go about finding out who can help me with this issue. I feel like the companies should be responsible for this we paid a lot of money for our stove, and I’m sure it will probably be expensive to have it fixed. If someone can please help me let me no thank you so much.

    • Hello Courtney, Thank you for sharing your experience. Sorry this happened, hopefully I can help a little. If the oven is only 2yrs old I would call the manufacturer and complain. Even though the oven parts may be beyond their warranty the manufacturer MAY replace the glass. Don’t let the customer service person tell you this never happens because it does – a lot! If the customer service person doesn’t seem to want to help ask for their supervisor and their supervisors supervisor till you get someone who will help you. Not to say this will get them to help you but you need to try them first. If that fails unfortunately you will have to replace the glass. A local appliance repair company would be able to help with that. Good luck!

  34. Joan Grant says:

    On Sunday, March 20, 2016, I used the self-clean function on our Bosch HBL 8450UC/10 oven. During the cleaning process, the middle glass shattered with glass falling out of the bottom of the oven door creating quite the mess. On Monday I visited the store where I purchased the oven and found them totally disinterested in the problem with the Bosch oven. I later called Bosch, and the rep was concerned and interested. Although my 2013 Bosch is out of warranty,
    she approved, and thus Bosch will pay for a visit from a local tech who will diagnose the problem and let me know what parts are needed to fix the oven. I appreciated her concern and also when I told her I had photos, she wanted
    those as well. I’ve learned that I will never ever use the self-clean function on my Bosch oven again!

  35. sherri says:

    Oven door shattered on my Toastmaster TCOV6R Convection Broiler oven. It’s still fully functional and metal frame of door is easy to insert new glass. But I read online that tempered glass like windows are made of can only withstand heat of about 350F while oven tempered glass withstands higher, is fabricated in a complete piece and CANNOT be cut. ?your thoughts on the matter? Can I simply go and purchase a cut to size tempered glass piece and be successful using the oven again??

    • Hi Sherri. I’m not sure how hot tempered glass can get after it’s been tempered before it becomes unstable. Nor can I confirm if oven door glass is different than regular tempered glass. I do know that tempered glass is heated to extreme temps and quickly cooled. You cannot cut tempered glass. The glass is cut to size first then tempered.

  36. Gene says:

    Hello Mike,
    Thank you for all your information!
    My question: I had a brand new Cosmo oven which we love and it so much more affordable than the competitors. We run a vacation rental and one of our guests took his cooking prowess to the extreme and had a kitchen grease fire in our kitchen in the oven while cooking bacon. The guest Was able to use our extinguisher (fortunately we had one nearby the oven). The cleaning lady realized a few days later that there is a foggy haze on the oven glass. We are not able to get rid of this effect. Could you tell me if this is damaged glass? If so is it still usable or does it have to be replaced? How safe is it? Or can it be cleaned or fiixed? Please let me know. Thank you,
    Gene Benda

    • Hello Gene, sorry for the delay in responding back to you over the holidays. I’m going to make an assumption that the chemicals in the fire extinguisher would be very similar to a spray on oven cleaner when it doesn’t get wiped off immediately. Oven cleaner will stain glass, metal, plastic, etc on an oven if its left on too long and it will never be removed. If the mist of the extinguisher was left on the glass and stained it you could replace the glass. The glass itself other than being stained shouldn’t be damaged and would still be usable. Unfortunately, I do not know o a way to remove the film once it has dried.

      • Gene says:

        Mike,
        Thank you for your reply. You’re response makes complete sense and I think that the chemical agent is the cause of the haze that we see. I will look into either seeing what are my options to clean it so that it can be clear or like you said possibly replacing the glass.
        Have a great new year!
        Gene

  37. noah says:

    My over door was removed because It was given tome so I cleaned it. My dog then walks by and pushed it and it landed on its face and shattered the glass. I noticed there was a metal barrier behind where the glass was. Is it still safe to use? The oven I mean. Or should it be replaced

    • Hi Noah! Dogs will be dogs, they got to see what your doing and be in the way right? Typically there are multiple layers of glass in the door. Depending on your brand, there will be a metal plate in the middle of the door that holds a layer or two of glass in place. It’s simply holding glass in place. It may also be a bit of a heat barrier but I’m not sure. If the front glass is missing I would still be safe and try to get it replaced before using the oven – the multiple layers of glass are there to insulate the outer portion of the door from getting too hot.

  38. Paulo says:

    I have a Maytag gas oven and my oven door just shattered. I can’t believe this happened. I was pulling open the door and it simply shattered. Has anyone found where to file a compliant and had any success?

    • Hello Paulo! Sorry to hear about your oven door. That’s a tough question to answer. As I mention in the post you can file a complaint with the Consumer Product Safety Commission but I honestly don’t know what power or authority they have to force the manufacturers to make changes.

  39. BONNIE says:

    I have an LG smooth top scheduled to be delivered next week. Now I am concerned since finding out about this problem.
    If a new stove had a smaller window would that lessen the chance of it getting broken? At least it would be less glass. Of course all the new stoves I have looked at have large windows. They look great, but I sure don’t want one exploding.
    I’m a senior and have owned many stoves. Never had a window in them explode. Never saw one break in my Moms house either.

    • Hi Bonnie,
      Congrats on the new oven! I wouldn’t be too concerned about the glass breaking on you. Even though glass breakage is more common than you think I’m sure the actual number of ovens that had glass breakage compared to the total number of ovens in the world is pretty small. You should enjoy your new oven and not worry about the glass breaking. Happy Holidays!

  40. Pam says:

    I have a GE wall oven model #JKP35B M1BB.
    purchased about 7 yrs ago.
    Today about 10 min into preheat the outer oven door exploded – temp was set at 350 so nothing excessive. Very disappointing that manufacturers don’t do anything about this. It is expensive as I am finding out to have this replaced. Thanks for the article – I at least now know this is not uncommon, and that these doors do explode for no reason

  41. Vicki Ryan says:

    I think this issue is world wide, we live in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia, and our (Bassano, Italian made I think, purchased from local hardware store) oven door exploded last night whilst not in use. It is (was…) a 3 glass panel door, and it was the outer door that exploded. I note a lot of other Australian consumers have recent incidents through product review website with other makes of oven.
    I found a very good report from a Uk site that did a survey on this issue. Please read. https://www.ovenu.co.uk/shattered-oven-door-glass-survey
    Well, off to start the insurance/manufacturer/retailer hamster wheel process..sigh
    Regards
    Vicki

    • Greetings Vicki,thanks for stopping by! I read the article from OvenU. I take the point of the first half of the article was more for their interest in telling their consumer that glass breakage by their operators was very low. I know they completely take the doors apart and clean each piece of glass and then reassemble everything. If the glass breaks afterwards its only natural for a customer to accuse OvenU in this case their operator broke the glass during the cleaning. I did find a benefit in the explanation of how the glass is made and the minute particles that become embedded in the glass causing the explosion was a good and valid point. Since I do not use caustic cleaners I did not know about the etching of the glass; I know now!
      Yes, this is a worldwide issue. I get over 3k visitors a month from around the world (Where in the world is Brunei Darussalam?) But they must have the same issue as someone has been visiting this post. The visits pick up especially when the temperature gets colder outside. Possibly a change in the weather? cold air rushing inside from opening doors? More people using their ovens in the winter months? So many possibilities!

  42. David says:

    Mike, I own a LG electric Range, 1.5 years old. With a extended Protection Plan. While doing normal baking the inner glass exploded. It is a three glass door and this was the inner pane. At this point Home Depot states that this is my problem. While I am fighting it out with home depot, what do you advise? HELP

    • Hello David!
      Sorry that this happened, I know how frustrating it must be to have this happen and be told this is your problem. Here are my thoughts and suggestions:
      1. Don’t waste your time with Home Depot. I am going to make an assumption that the sales associate either never heard of this happening before or is thinking you broke the glass somehow. They really don’t have the means to replace the glass other than to pass you along to the manufacturer anyways. Unless the extended warranty is under HD’s policy speaking to the sales associate at the store is wasting your time. Call the warranty number on the policy; you should have it in your paperwork and speak to someone who understands the warranty.
      2. Call LG. They should honor the warranty. Even if the extended warranty is not theirs they should be able to help you. If the person you speak to says they never heard of this happening before you need to speak to someone else. Every manufacturer has this issue, just because the person on the other end never heard of it happening doesn’t mean their company hasn’t dealt with this problem. It’s not uncommon for manufacturers to replace the glass even after the warranty has passed but you might need to battle it out with them.
      3. Not sure which inner panel broke but their are some models that have three equal sized glass panes. You can call an appliance tech to come out to remove the door and take the door apart. If the tech can’t assist you in finding a replacement piece take one of the good pieces of glass to a local glass fabricator and have them make you a new piece of tempered glass. Not sure of the cost but it may be quicker than waiting for LG to respond to the warranty?

      I hope this helps ~ Mike

  43. Tina Thomas says:

    My husband and I purchased Frigidaire appliances for our new home 2 years ago. Today I thought I would clean my oven using the self clean and 15 minutes into it I heard a loud pop and my inside glass shattered. I can not find anything that would have caused this. Thank you for your article, now I don’t feel alone.
    Tina

    • Hello Tina,
      Thank you for sharing your story! As much as I hear about the glass exploding it always intrigues me how it happens too. The stories are very similar but there is no one reason I can point to that would suggest the reason why this happens – other than it does! Glass is a great insulator but is very fragile. The damage could have been done long before you purchased the oven or when it was delivered and installed. The slightest chip, knick, ding, wiggle, etc could set the explosion in motion long ago.

  44. Leanne Chase says:

    Today my almost three year old GE oven door glass exploded. I’d used the oven last night to cook meatloaf at 350, but I wasn’t using the oven, when it exploded. I had just walked past the stove, when the outside glass exploded. There was even glass on my kitchen table 10′ away! No one was touching the door, and it was about 73 degrees in the kitchen at the time. No one was hurt, but being right before Halloween, it was pretty spooky!

    • Hello Leanne! Yes, that’s a spoooky coincidence that this happened right before Halloween…Glad no one was hurt!

      • Leanne Chase says:

        Also, I’ve not used the self-cleaning feature yet. After reading the other exploding glass stories, I may never use it!

        • I clean a lot of ovens locally and I can tell you the majority of ovens I clean are self cleaning but the homeowner will not use the feature. If they do, I have found the self clean mode will sometimes damage the porcelain on the bottom by turning it a white-ish color, almost like something was spilled on the bottom and stained it. This is from the high heat damaging the porcelain finish. As much as the manufacturers love to sell the feature it’s not good for the oven, ask any appliance repair company.

  45. roger w. says:

    It happened to me a few days ago I have a Kenmore built in oven for its around 6 years old it was a hot day in the house and we had to use the oven for dinner 10 minutes in the putter glass exploded sending shattered glass everywhere In my 38 years of living I’ve never heard of this or seen it. I always that sears\kenmorr appliances were reliable.

    • Mike Wainwright says:

      Hello Roger! You are correct. I grew up being told Sears/ Kenmore was a reliable and long lasting appliance. If you wanted a good quality appliance you get a Kenmore. Personally. I have gotten rid of my Kenmore appliances except for my dryer and gone to another manufacturer. Nonetheless, every manufacturer has their problems with the glass. I wouldn’t translate glass breakage with the quality or lack of quality of the appliance.

      • Rebecca R says:

        My Kenmore model 790.47899600 had the same glass explosion a few weeks ago however I’m being told the replacement glass, part # 318261363, is no longer available. When asked what that means for me, they said I have to buy a new oven or try eBay. I can’t believe i would have to throw away a working oven because I can’t find the outer glass. What can I do? Any help, please!

        • Hello Rebecca. WOW, this is a problem! I did a quick search online and found the same thing – this part is not available any longer. You can try to contact a local appliance dealer and maybe they have the glass in stock – or might have one that is the same size and will fit your model? I believe you need to make a lot of calls to various places to see if anyone has a replacement part. It may take a while but there has to be one out there – you can’t have the last Kenmore oven in this model on the planet. It would be sad that you have to buy a new oven just because of the outer glass not being available any longer.
          Best of luck, sorry I can’t help you on this ~ Mike

          • Lynda says:

            We are going through the same thing right now, doesn’t appear to be a replacement for that model #

          • Hi Lynda! Sorry to hear your dealing with a door that’s no longer being manufactured; that’s got to be tough to deal with. Could a local glass fabricator make you a new piece?

  46. Bob says:

    I have just replace the glass on our oven, it was the outer glass that shattered all over the floor. My wife was sitting with friends eating nobody near the oven when bang scared the life out of all the girls. Yes it seems a common problem with glass door ovens…

  47. Ivy Sciocatti says:

    Hi there
    So just a few weeks ago i experianced the same thing! must say i got a big fright, i was busy in my kitchen and hadnt used my oven for a long time, and still wasnt using it, i had a glass bottle in my hand and picked it up off of the counter (which was right by my eye level oven) just the edge of the stove was nicked by the bottle as i moved to take it away, oh my word! next thing i hear the glass start cracking and it literally exploded out, i had to jump out of the way and true as anything glass was every where, it was still cracking and popping on the ground, i have a video of this aswell as pics of the glass on the floor. i could not believe this, and i couldnt see my little nick with my bottle breaking the glass like that, i am so happy to hear that i am not the only one that has experianced this, and how it is explained here is exactly what i went threw. i am currently submiting all to our insurance and trying to find a explanation for how it broke, i think i am just going to print this page with a bried discription. i had to laugh, even the picture on this page looks exactly like mine did!! heres to praying they will replace my oven!

    • Hello Ivy, Thank you for telling your experience! I was in a retail store a few years back. This store had glass display cases for merchandise. Someone was working on a ladder doing something on the ceiling and dropped a hammer on top of the display case. By the sound of the impact I’m sure everyone thought the glass was broken but you could barely see where the hammer hit – nothing broke! On the flip side, if that hammer would of hit the edge of the showcase the whole thing would have exploded into a million pieces.

      Tempered glass is a fragile thing. You can hit the center of the glass and most likely it won’t break but lightly tap the edges and BOOM! the whole thing shatters. The edges are the weakest part of the glass. If you accidentally tapped the edge of the glass with the bottle that could explain why the glass broke. Hopefully the insurance will pick this up for you. Glad you’re OK and not hurt – that’s the most important thing ~ Mike

  48. Casey Harris says:

    My wife was crouching next to the oven moments ago grabbing pots from the nearby cupboard when the glass exploded all over her. I had a camera nearby, so after caring for her, I videotaped the glass continuing to pop, crackle and shatter into smaller pieces. You can see some of the chunks go flying up out of the pile well after they had broken. The oven hadn’t been used in more than 2 weeks, as we had been gone until just today! Boy, that poor housesitter would have had a tough time convincing me of that!

    • Hi Casey, thanks for sharing your experience! Man, I hope your wife is ok? That must have scared the begezes out of her? I’m not sure anyone could explain what happened and believe it unless they’ve seen it for themselves. If you post that video onto YouTube please send me the link.

  49. Electrolux outer oven door just exploded for no apparent reason. Scary to see how far the glass flew but, thankfully, we weren’t in the kitchen at the time. Almost a relief to find out it’s not uncommon and to read these remarks.

  50. audrey french says:

    Just the other night, my kids and I were watching television and heard cracking sounds. I thought the icemaker had inadvertently drop some ice cubes on the floor, but when I turned on the light, I discovered that the oven door on my Samsung oven was shattered. The oven hadn’t been on for days. There was nothing on the stove and nothing in the oven. Unfortunately, we purchased it about a year and a half ago. This on top of my Samsung microwave breaking down after less than a year, and my Samsung refrigerator leaking after a year and a half. Sheesh!

  51. Hello. My name is Barbara. I moved into a home that was unbeknownst to me, a “demo” home, that was furnished with a GE stove. Not even one year after moving in did my outer oven door shatter, without reason! I was doing a big gumbo which made the ultra small KITCHEN very hot, but i had not used the OVEN for a while. My daughter opened the freezer, which i keep on a slightly higher setting (6 out of 7 to be exact), and all of a sudden..BOOM! Entire outer door just explodes! Shards of glass was even in my carpet of the dining room! Not just in front of the oven! Thankfully, my baby girl wasn’t hurt.! Now, at first i was told i would receive a new range due to a recall. Then, we got a new office manager who said an “evaluator” said “that its not possible for an outer glass to break, because the inner glass would be broken as well. So, i said that was fine. I KNEW there was NO WAY we could have been at fault and the glass travels at least five ft! Its been nearly 3 years now, and of course new management who promised to replace the stove. However, TODAY a “professional” who showed no credentials, or even an i.d., for that matter…just told maintenance his “professional”knowledge tells him that it is NOT possible for an outer door on a arrive to break! Ugh! I know this is lengthy, but i just need to add, that during the time MY oven exploded, so did THREE others in our community complex.

    • Hi Barbara, I appreciate your story. It’s interesting to hear when a builder has a person with “credentials” who is looking after the builders interests says it’s impossible to break only one piece of glass at a time. They obviously didn’t do any research, it happens all the time. This blog post might only have a 100 or so comments but its read by people all over the world, hundreds of times each month. In most cases I know what they searched for to get here…”outer glass shattered” “inner glass shattered” etc. It’s simply not impossible. Thanks for your input, I hope you get it resolved soon.

  52. I moved into a home that was unbeknownst to me, a “demo” home, that was furnished with a GE stove. Not even one year after moving in did my outer oven door shatter, without reason! I was doing a big gumbo which made the ultra small KITCHEN very hot, but i had not used the OVEN for a while. My daughter opened the freezer, which i keep on a slightly higher setting (6 out of 7 to be exact), and all of a sudden..BOOM! Entire outer door just explodes! Shards of glass was even in my carpet of the dining room! Not just in front of the oven! Thankfully, my baby girl wasn’t hurt.! Now, at first i was told i would receive a new range due to a recall. Then, we got a new office manager who said an “evaluator” said “that its not possible for an outer glass to break, because the inner glass would be broken as well. So, i said that was fine. I KNEW there was NO WAY we could have been at fault and the glass travels at least five ft! Its been nearly 3 years now, and of course new management who promised to replace the stove. However, TODAY a “professional” who showed no credentials, or even an i.d., for that matter…just told maintenance his “professional”knowledge tells him that it is NOT possible for an outer door on a arrive to break! Ugh! I know this is lengthy, but i just need to add, that during the time MY oven exploded, so did THREE others in our community complex.

  53. sara Gardner says:

    My Jennair inner glass in the door just exploded. I will contact Jennair tomorrow but suspect the best solution is to replace the whole unit with a better oven. Even though only about 7 years old and not actually used that much the lower door lock failed (on Christmas day agggh) and now the upper just exploded. I’ve vacumed up most of the glass I think but this seems to be a design flaw to me. The oven I had before was almost 25 years old when I replaced it and the glass worked fine there.

  54. Eleanor Oakley says:

    The inner glass on my 1 1/2 year old Kenmore free-standing range oven door exploded last night while I was baking cookies. I have never had an experience like this although I’ve been baking and using ovens for over 50 years!!! Is it something with a new type of glass – perhaps ordered from same manufacturers for all brands of stoves? Hope no one gets hurt but maybe a very large lawsuit will make appliance dealers pay attention. (Last batch of cookies thrown away!)

    • Hi Elenore! Sorry to hear your glass exploded and ruined your cookies – if they were chocolate chip I would be fuming! I’m not sure if a lawsuit can or has been filed? I’m sure with most brands they get their glass from overseas because of the lower production cost – which can lead to lower quality. Maybe it has something to do with all the shipping and handling the glass goes thru from the overseas manufacturer to the final assembly line to where the appliance was sold to you and then to it’s final resting spot in your kitchen. The oven is moved around so many times till it reaches your kitchen it’s no wonder things break on a regular basis? That’s my two cents anyways. Thanks ~ Mike

  55. britt says:

    I have a double convection Kenmore oven. I loved it. the outer glass on the upper oven just shattered. Pure luck I opened the door instead of my 13yo. Pure luck no one else was in the kitchen with me as it shattered…glass was up to 10 feet away. Glass throughout the bottom oven, the dish washer that is next to the ovens and into the sink-not sure on the physics of that.

    We recently moved into this home, so I’m hoping our home warranty will cover it…but I have to keep my 2yo safe until then. there is a small part of glass at the bottom of the door that I can’t remove. I’m tempted to cover it in duct tape or something to keep my toddlers hands safe. I don’t want to ruin the door, but what else can I do?

    of course it’s a weekend

    • Hi Britt! Sorry to hear your glass shattered on you, I’m glad your toddler wasn’t in the room either. I would recommend taking a piece of cardboard and taping it over the door. You can tape over the glass you can’t get out but cardboard would be easier and it would allow your toddler to put their hands on the door without you feeling like you have to jump in between. ~ Mike

    • Amy says:

      Our outer oven door spontaneously shattered during the night this weekend, and now we have a similar problem as Britt. There’s a layer of glass at the bottom that we can’t remove, and my roommate has dogs, so we need to be careful that they don’t injure themselves/eat the glass/etc. I’ll see if we can try the cardboard thing.

      Most frustratingly, we rent our place, and when I called our rental company the morning that I discovered the broken glass, the guy was super condescending. I told him the oven hadn’t been used for more than 12 hours at the time, and he asked if the oven had been left on. I said, no, that was the first thing I checked. He snottily said, “Well, oven doors don’t just shatter by themselves.” Really, rocket scientist? Maybe do a simple Google search before you say that. (Not to mention our oven is quite old, so it’s not entirely shocking that something would go wrong with it.) He also then said that I shouldn’t have called them right away and should have waited until normal business hours. I tried to explain that there was still glass clinging to it and slowly falling off, and that there was a pretty thick layer at the bottom that we couldn’t safely remove; he persisted in saying it wasn’t a safety issue and we shouldn’t have called immediately. But knowing this rental place, if we hadn’t called immediately they would have faulted us for that as well. I would complain to the company about his behavior, but none of the other people we’ve dealt with there have been terribly professional, either.

      • Hi Amy! Sorry to hear about your glass breaking but I got a chuckle out of your “Rocket Scientist” comment. He obviously never had this happen before or he would have know that spontaneous explosion of your glass can and will happen – a lot more than most realize! Glad know one was hurt, especially the furry ones. Hopefully the rental company will take care of this in a timely manner. Thanks ~ Mike

  56. Robyn Gray says:

    We purchased a Samsung free standing stove with 5 burners on top in November, 2014. While I was using the oven,on a very low heat (200 degrees), the front piece of glass shattered. I opened the lower drawer so that any falling glass would be caught there rather than all over the kitchen floor. We called Samsung and they gave us the name of a service company who would take care of the problem. They came out the following morning to be sure they were ordering the correct part. They also removed the door from the stove for safety reasons. I certainly hope that this works and we don’t e another problem.

  57. Irene says:

    I have a Kitchenaid wall oven. I was broiling food in the bottom oven when suddenly the inner glass panel exploded. Glass shot out from the bottom onto the floor. The oven was purchased in 2008 for a second home.

  58. Sam Gjokaj says:

    My wife was doing a self clean on Maytag and the inner glass broke! We bought the oven 4 1/2 years ago from Home Depot and we still have some time to replace it but since we did not register it online or calling them, we cannot get a new one. It would have been nice of someone told us that in order to have the warranty you need to register it!!!

    • Hello Sam! Sorry to hear about your glass breaking. You bring up a fantastic point about registering your oven for any warranty service, one that I don’t think I would have thought about. Other then giving the manufacturer a way to contact you in case of a recall or other related issues it also acts as a proof of ownership so you have the right to a warranty claim. I’m probably like you, I don’t always fill out my warranty cards but I might moving forward…Thanks ~ Mike

    • Sioux says:

      I have just had my HotPoint oven door explode. This is the SECOND time this has happened on this oven!

      • Hello Sioux! Sorry to hear your oven door has exploded – TWICE! One would have to question why it’s exploding. Hypothetical questions –
        1. Did the replacement glass have a crack in it?
        2. When the glass was replaced maybe the screws were tightened down too tight?
        3. Are you letting the door slam shut – like kicking it closed with your foot?
        4. Are you allowing pots or pans to drop on the glass when the door is open?
        5. Are you using the self clean mode a lot?
        I don’t know if there is a history with HotPoint doors exploding more then other brands. Sometimes there is a reason why the glass explodes and sometimes it’s a mystery.

        Thanks for sharing~ Mike

  59. Cobie Harris says:

    OMG!!! I had no idea that my oven glass can explode! Thanks a lot for this information! Really interesting! Canning Town Carpet Cleaners Ltd.

  60. Sam D says:

    That’s a very informative article, Mike.

    I have a free standing GE black & stainless electric range purchased in 2010. In less than a month the glass lens on the oven light shattered and fused in a way that made replacing it very difficult. GE service came out and fixed it. A few months ago I had used the oven a couple hours earlier and it had totally cooled down. As I was talking on the phone and standing about 4-5 feet from the oven door, I witnessed the outer glass shatter spontaneously and almost silently. The shattered glass held together for a couple days before busting up and falling onto the kitchen floor. I have a GE extended warranty but didn’t get around to placing a service call until this week. And now it should be fixed soon. The rear glass has remained intact and the oven has actually continued to work OK but the door won’t stay fully open on its own.

    I have other GE appliances in my home and this is the only one that with which I have had a very unsatisfactory experience. I have a hunch that most or all the appliance manufacturers have been using the same source for their oven door glass.

    • Hello Sam! Thank you for the kind comment about the post!

      WOW, you have had some issues with your oven; you must be a patient person not to get rid of it? You bring up a good point regarding the door not staying open on its own. The glass acts as a weight and to balance the door. Since the outer glass was missing the weight of the inner glass was pulling the door closed. I too would also assume all manufacturers get their glass from the same source.

      Thank you for sharing your experience with your oven. I hope GE is able to get it taken care of once and for all.

      Regards,
      Mike

  61. imama says:

    Happened to me last night as well. I was making cheese cake. Took out the base of the cheese cake and was cooling it off on the shelf. And was wondering where is tho
    is strange “someone playing with a shopping bag or walking on glass” sound coming from. When I heard the explosion and “saw” it too. Alhumdulillah, I was safe.
    My queation is should I still finish baking my cheese cake? As the inside glass is still intact!!! (Outer glass was perfectly fine!)

    Thanks

    • Hello imama – Thanks for sharing your experience! WOW! I’m sure not too many people can say they watched their glass explode in front of them? Based on your comment, I’m assuming your outer glass panel broke? Since I don’t know your particular situation I would recommend getting a hold of the manufacturer and asking them if its still safe to use your oven. I would assume they would say no its not and don’t use it till you replace the glass. The door will get very hot and the outer glass acts as a barrier between you and the heat. Safety first!

      Thanks ~ Mike

  62. Darlene F says:

    Hi, Mike. I just had the inner glass in my oven door explode while I was baking chicken. It is a Whirlpool stand-alone that I purchased in March 2013. I was in another room and heard this huge explosion. Luckily, most of the glass shattered into the oven, but when I opened the door, much of it fell out onto the kitchen floor. I bought it from Sears and have a 3 year warranty. They are sending a repair person over Saturday. Could the outer door glass be damaged even if I can’t see it?

    • Hello Darlene! To quickly answer your question whether the outer glass can be damaged is two-fold. Some oven doors might have two layers of glass and others have three layers of glass. Depending on how many layers your door has would determine if the explosion got to the outer layer or not. If your tech says you have two layers then there is a chance that some of the glass in the explosion could have impacted with the outer glass. Since the glass exploded inwards to the oven I would make an assumption that the outer glass is fine – BUT ask your tech to look at it nonetheless.

      Thanks ~~ Mike

  63. Judy says:

    I have an 8 year old Maytag double wall oven. I never use the self clean feature. At 2 AM this morning, I awoke to a loud explosion. In my search for the noise source, I discovered that my upper outer wall oven glass had shattered. If it is supposed to be tempered,they screwed up because there are shards of glass everywhere. Just started the processor looking for replacement, and shipping to Hawaii. Aloha, Judy

    • Aloha Judy! Sorry to hear about your oven – that must have been a terrible scare that early in the morning! The glass should have broken into a bunch of pebbles not shards like daggers. If you have daggers then maybe the glass was replaced at one time with a non-tempered piece??? I wouldn’t say the pebbles wouldn’t cut you but they should not be daggers.

      Definitely not something you want to wake up to in the wee hours of the morning!

      Mahalo ~ Mike

  64. Bender says:

    I am surprised this is as common as it is! It just happened to me and it was a bit unsettling. I was putting dishes away and inadvertently dropped a bowl. I cringed, awaiting the inevitable break of the bowl, when I heard a shattering sound.
    I looked down and it took a moment for my brain to register that there was WAAAAAY too much glass on the ground to be the bowl. I looked at the oven which was right next to me and the glass was gone. I assume the edge of the bowl hitting the oven door caused the glass to shatter. There was glass everywhere – on the countertops, the table, even out in the hallway (a good 10 feet away). I’m a renter and will now be paying for a replacement of some sort. 🙁 Stupid butter-fingers!

    • Hi Bender – Thanks for your story!
      MAN! That’s a tough predicament to be in. To accidentally drop a bowl and it happens to hit the glass just at that right angle to break the glass. Some people can drop pots and pans on the glass while the oven door is open, scratch the glass and never have it explode but you get the satisfaction of knowing you hit it perfectly – (joking of course!)

      You would be surprised at how common this is. I’ve literally got 2 thousand visits to this blog post in the last 28 days from all over the world. I get roughly 50-80 people a day, every day, reading this post and they all had the same thing happen. I don’t know what a solution is – wish I did!

      I hope you get it fixed. Let me know if there is anything I can do for you.
      ~Mike

  65. Micki says:

    Thanks for the informative article. Today my oven (or to be precise, the oven in the apartment I rent), a Hotpoint, exploded. I had been baking Christmas cookies to send to my husband in Afghanistan. The oven was on 375* and no one was in the kitchen. The sound was so startling and it took me a minute to figure out and process what happened. I called the emergency maintenance number for our apartment, but they said anything involving the oven is not considered an emergency. I’ll call in the morning and hopefully they’ll get it fixed soon so I can finish my cookies.

    • Hello Micki ~ Thank you for sharing! Sorry to hear about your oven – I hope those cookies get to your husband. I wonder if the oven was on fire during a self clean mode if that would be considered an emergency….Hmmm?? Anyways, I hope they are able to get your glass replaced so you can get your cooking done.

      Thanks ~ Mike

  66. Ron james says:

    Hi Mike
    I am living in South Korea in an apartment and working at the DSME shipyard. I moved recently into a new apartment and I use the oven a lot, the handle on the oven came loose, hanging one one screw, I called the agent and he came and fixed it. This happened again a couple of weeks later, again he came again and got it screwed back on. The third time the handle came right off, once again he screwed the handle back on. I turned the oven on to bake some pies, it had been on for about 10 minutes, I was about to roll out the pastry and BANG wow glass every where what a scare and a mess. At worked we looked into this on the net and found that he probably screwed the screws too tight and put stress on the glass causing it to shatter once it got hot. I asked the agent for a new cooker but they have just come and installed a new glass and handle. I am afraid to use it now because if they have screwed the screws too tight then the same thing will happen again. I am still pushing for a new oven, they are only about 400 bucks here, it’s a LG brand made in Korea. If you want a photo let me know and I will send you some
    Regards
    Ron James

    • Greetings Ron!
      Thanks for sharing your experience from South Korea! Your comment shows that exploding oven door glass is a worldwide problem.

      It would definitely make sense that if the agent tightened the screws too tight it could put pressure on the glass – or if the screws were too long and they poked into the glass – that it would cause undue pressure on the glass causing it to explode under the heat. Hopefully if they replaced the glass and the handle they used the correct screws this time and you wont have any more problems with it.

      Thanks ~ Mike

  67. Amber says:

    Was watching TV, I had a roast in the oven when I heard something explode I ran to the kitchen and there was glad prices everywhere. My own for exploded! Thank God no one was in the kitchen at the time! Why in the heck would it do this?

    • Hi Amber! Sorry to hear about your door exploding – especially with a roast in the oven! Not sure why this would happen without knowing a little more about your oven. There really could be a hand full of reasons that I could list and another hand full that could come up that I would never think of. Oven door glass is a fickle product that explodes when it chooses. If you’ve had the oven for a long time maybe you fractured the glass a year ago and it finally decided to explode now…not really sure.

      Mike

  68. msmith says:

    We just minutes ago had the interior glass shatter on our oven. Our GE oven has 3 layers of glass & the middle one shattered. How does THAT one shatter? Thank heavens it wasn’t the exterior glass since my whole family was up & going around the house.

    • Hi MSMITH! ~ Thank you for telling us what happened. I’ve cleaned a few ovens like yours that has a triple layer of glass. The glass tends to be wrapped in a aluminum trim piece that caps and hold the three pieces together like a triple pane window. The three pieces are separated from each other by a 1/4″ or so for air (I guess). I’ve had to take a door apart once because drips got into the center piece of glass – Somehow got thru the first layer of glass and aluminum trim and dripped down the center piece of glass (How the heck does that happen?!?). How does that one shatter and not the outside two? Not really sure???

      Mike

    • Amy says:

      Hi Mike, Sorry I realize I was not specific enough. I bought a replacement stove, not the glass. Just out of curiosity, I know safety glass won’t hurt like regular glass breaking. But I could hear all the pieces crackling. Would that have ment the glass was hot or just the sound of it breaking up. I thought it may have burnt my dog had she been standing there at the time of the blow out.

      • Hi Amy ~ Thanks for clarifying! Since the glass was under a lot of tension before it exploded the remaining glass was probably just continuing to break – but wouldn’t explode again since all the tension was released. If you were using the oven at the time the glass exploded it may have been hot to the touch. If you weren’t using the oven then you could have picked the glass up right afterwards.

        Mike

  69. Jennifer says:

    Hi Mike, I’m writing to share with you that the glass on my oven door exploded tonight. Yes, less than two days before Thanksgiving. I can not believe this happened. My oven is a three year old Jenn-Air pro series. I just reviewed my warranty and find it very disturbing that this part doesn’t seem to be covered. We paid $4000.00 for the stove, I’ve never used the self cleaning feature on the oven and had a pizza cooking at 400 degrees when the explosion took place. I have calls into Jenn-Air and the distributor where we purchased the oven. I will update you when I hear from both companies.

    • Hi Jennifer! Thank you for sharing your experience. I look forward to hearing what the distributor and Jenn-Air say they will do to help replace the glass. Unfortunately, even though you paid a lot for the oven the glass is still the same whether it be on a $4000 dollar oven or a $599 oven. Please know I’m not trying to diminish the fact that this happened, especially right before Thanksgiving. I’m sure all manufacturers get their glass from the same few sources around the world and since Jenn-Air cannot control those vendors’ fabrication processes they choose to not warranty it. I hope they take care of it nonetheless.

      Try to have a great Thanksgiving!

      Mike

    • Amy says:

      As I was standing less than one foot away from my oven the exterior glass just shattered into a million tiny pieces. This happened Tuesday night with Thanksgiving being less than two days away. I am grateful my little 8lb dog wasn’t standing in front of the oven. She usually does when I have it lit as she likes the warmth it puts out. I have to admit that my oven is an older one at 23yrs. It is a Caloric. But still I didn’t realize safety glass would just blow out and shatter like that. With my husband and I both working Wednesday we only had a few hours to find a replacement. Which we did, so Thanksgiving was still on at my house!

      • Hi Amy! Thanks for sharing your story. I’m so glad that you were able to find a replacement so quickly – did you find it at a glass shop or on line? Tempered glass or safety glass is designed to blow up into little nuggets instead of splinter. If it splintered into sharp shards it would be even more dangerous creating a bunch of daggers. I’m glad Thanksgiving wasn’t ruined at your place but I’m sure it gave you a good story to tell!

        Mike

  70. Kerry says:

    Hello,

    I bought a Whirlpool electric oven end of october 2014 and last sunday (just over a month later) the outer door exploded and shattered. Pure luck that noone was hurt – I am furious that such hazardous products are on the market – I have 2 kids who regulary help me cook and we were just about to start making christmas cookies. I am not happy with just the glass of the outer door being replaced – would the inner glass not be damaged by the explosion? I do not trust that oven anymore – it could not have been inspected well.

    • Hi Kerry ~ Thank you for telling us about your oven door. I would be furious like you said too! That’s odd that you have a new Whirlpool and Kelly below has a new Whirlpool too, Hers is only two weeks old. It certainly would lead me to ask Whirlpool where they get their glass. If they get it from China or somewhere else outside of the country then they could have a bad batch of glass.

      I would push them to replace the inner glass as well. Even though the explosion blew the glass outwards there could have been shards that blew inwards and could have created tiny impact points in the inner glass.

      Sorry this happened right before Thanksgiving. Let me know if there is anything I can do to help.

      Mike

  71. Kelly Giesenhaus says:

    Just had the glass shatter on my new Whirlpool oven!

    Haven’t had it two weeks yet.

    Now it’s 3 days before Thanksgiving and I have a 22lb turkey in the fridge and no oven!

    • Hi Kelly ~ So sorry to hear about your oven glass shattering – especially like you said, RIGHT BEFORE THANKSGIVING!!!
      Question – Is the appliance company you bought it from responding to you in a quick enough time to get it back up and running by Thursday?

  72. Stephen says:

    Had this about 10 minutes ago with my kitchen aid double oven. Was cleaning it. Literally banged into the frame not the glass and it shattered into pieces ordering another one tomorrow. I have a photo if you want it.

    • Hello Stephen – Sorry to hear about your door! I have to be honest and say there has been a few times I’ve banged the door pretty hard while cleaning the interior of the oven and wondered if I created a future problem with the glass – so far nothing (fingers crossed). It just proves that there is no rhyme or reason why this happens – the glass explodes whenever it wants to explode. Please, send the photo and I’ll see if I can post it to your comment.

      Where will you be ordering a new piece of glass from?

  73. Sarah A says:

    I didn’t even get a chance to use my new Whirlpool double oven range. It was delivered on a very cold day and the upper door spontaneously shattered all over my living room carpet as the delivery men were wheeling it in. :-/

    • Hi Sarah! Thank you for sharing your story. I’m sure that was quite the experience for both you and the delivery crew. I hope they wheeled it right back out and brought you a new one? If the glass got really cold then the bouncing around from the truck into the house could have made the glass vibrate enough to break.

  74. Gina Hanley says:

    Woke up this morning to shattered glass oven door–luckily most of it was still in one big pebbly piece! Did find pieces 10′ away at 45* angle from oven. This is a Whirlpool double wall oven-11 years old. I used the oven 3 days ago and have never used the self-cleaning feature. I think newer glass, made in China, is not as good as the older made-in-USA glass. I used packing tape over the entire surface and unscrewed the handle and was able to get it removed in one large “piece” from the main part of the door. Now to look for a replacement!

    • Hi Gina,
      Thank you for your comment! Sorry to hear about your glass – fortunately it stayed in one piece and you weren’t spending the morning cleaning up glass. I’m curious if you were able to find a new piece of glass and how that process went for you. Did you find it easy to find a replacement glass or difficult?

      Thanks ~ Mike

  75. Tonya k says:

    My 1.5 year old Maytag double oven was not in use the day the bottom glass door exploded! My son had dropped a plate and it bounced off his tennis shoe into the lower left corner of the door. The glass door exploded glass 5ft away and up into my sink which is 2.5 ft away from the oven! Little pieces of glass everywhere! I did call our local Maytag dealer and he had not seen this either but when we called Maytag corporate safety department I was told this is what should have occurred as it is for my safety to not have large pieces of glass to cut me. I guess a million pieces embedded into my tile floor and rugs is better! Not with me I am disappointed

    • Hi Tonya! Thank you for your story – sorry to hear about your broken glass door. It doesn’t surprise me to hear the glass exploded. During the tempering process when the glass is heated up and cooled there is roughly a 1/4″ to 1/2″ around the outside perimeter that is weaker than the middle of the glass. This is just a natural occurrence in the tempering process. When the plate hit the corner, it hit a weak point of the glass – I doubt the glass would have broken if the plate hit the middle of the glass. While it’s a huge PIA to clean up, when the glass explodes into the million little pieces it is for your safety. The pieces of glass are not supposed to have sharp edges – this is why people who walk on glass use broken tempered glass because the edges are supposed to be blunt and not sharp like non tempered glass.

      Will Maytag be replacing your glass door or are they making you do it yourself? ~ Mike

  76. christine n. says:

    Bought my lg double oven range in march, 2014 and was just cooking an amazing piece of salmon. When I opens the door to check my dinner the glass shattered all over my food 🙁 ugh. Waste of “whole foods” fish!

    • Oh man Christine! Sorry to hear about the loss of your salmon… and glass door! I wouldn’t have thought the glass would shatter on such a new door. Have you contacted LG to see if they would replace it under warranty? ~ Mike

  77. WENDY YAFCHAK says:

    jUST RAN THE SELF CLEANING MODE ON KITCHEN AID OVER THAT’S ABOUT 13 YEARS OLD AND THE INSIDE GLASS SHATTERED

    • Hi Wendy, Sorry to hear that your glass shattered! I’m starting to think that the oven door glass (on all ovens) need to be serviced and or replaced after a few years – kind of like preventative maintenance on a car. Unfortunately, this isn’t something anyone thinks of or knows can happen till it actually does. What is your plan to get this repaired? Please reply back when you have an update as I would be interested in hearing how the replacement process goes for you.

  78. Martha says:

    We have a Sears gas range with a convection oven. New in March 2014. Last evening I turned on the broiler, 8″ later we heard a loud POP, turned to find the inner glass window completely shattered. Sears is sending a “technician” to take a look at it. At this point the glass is still hanging together. I don’t want to open the door, fearing it will fall everywhere! Very strange, and the 2 people I spoke with on the phone at Sears had never heard of this happening.

    • Hi Martha! Thank you for sharing your experience, I wish you didn’t have to though. I find it odd that 2 people at Sears never heard that happening unless they are brand new to the company. I did a quick search of “sears glass door shattering” and 63,000 results came up – one of the top two websites had this comment – “…found multiple pages of complaints about shattered glass doors on Sear-issued ovens at the Consumer Product Safety Commission’s SaferProducts.gov site.” So, it’s happening – a lot – even if they don’t want to admit it.

      Unfortunately, the most a technician will be able to do is look at the door and say “Yep, it’s broke” and hopefully replace it. Please let me know what they decide to do to fix the problem ~ Thanks, Mike

  79. Jade says:

    My GE outer glass oven door shattered when I was at work. Nobody was in the house. I had made pizza at 425 degrees the evening before, but it was the following day – in the middle of the day – that the door completely shattered. I came home to glass all over the floor.

    • Hi jade! Sorry to hear about your glass door. This proves that there is no rhyme or reason for the glass to shatter – it just goes off like a mini bomb whenever it feels the need to. Do you recall if there was a significant temperature drop from the night before? What’s your experience so far to replace your glass?

  80. Carl Lozito says:

    Hi,

    Kitchen Aid double oven…8 years old. Noticed small nick which seems to be between the double glass….any thoughts? Will this be ok for awhile or hard to tell?

    • Hi Carl! Thank you for your comment. A small nick on the edge of the glass can sit there forever and never do anything…OR…it can shatter at the most awkward moment. Unfortunately I don’t think there is anything you can do to the glass other than be proactive and replace it now. Depending on the model you might be able to take the door apart and remove the glass. Take it to a glass company and they can get you a new piece – it just needs to be tempered. ~ Mike

  81. Susannah says:

    I bought a house previously owned by Whirlpool exec. It’s full of KitchenAid appliances. The first time I used the oven the inner glass door shattered everywhere. KitchenAid doesn’t seem too concerned, and acted like it was no big deal. I’ll have it removed and replaced with an Electrolux. Definitely not impressed with their customer service.

    • Hello Susannah ~ Thank you for your comment! I’m sure KitchenAid get’s many multiple calls each day and after a while they probably are getting numb to hearing the same thing. I’m not trying to defend their poor customer service but that might be why they don’t seem to care – they are tired of hearing about their own faults or faults of one of their vendors. I do know a lot of people visit this post each day so I know this is a widespread problem. It does amaze me how many oven doors shatter. Hopefully Electrolux will be a better oven for you. ~ Mike

  82. Katherine Barroll says:

    The outer glass panel of my GE oven shattered with no warning as I was opening the oven to check on my holiday meal Monday evening April 14, 2014. It made a big mess all over the floor shortly before I was about to serve dinner.Fortunately, none of it got inside the oven, as there was an inner door, and the oven still works.
    However, now I need to find a replacement for the door on this 4 year old drop in oven.

    • Hello Katherine!
      Sorry to hear about your glass door. Glass is a wonderful but strange product, it can remain damaged and on the verge of breaking for a very long time or can instantly break at the first sign of damage – it all depends on where the fracture in the glass started. What caused your piece of glass to shatter at that very moment will remain a mystery.
      I hope you are able to find a new piece of glass for your door. I would be curious to know if you have any problems locating a piece though.

      Thank you for your comment!

  83. Rally R says:

    My 2 year old Kitchen Aid wall oven has the same problem. The inside glass shattered 1 hour into the self clean cycle (1st time using the self clean). Glass EVERYWHERE, it was the inside glass that shattered but it came shooting out of the space between the top and bottom ovens. Cost me well over $200 to fix. After much discussion with Kitchen Aid (ask for a supervisor) they finally agreed to pay the cost of the parts. (better than nothing) but now I can never use the self cleaning mode again! Not happy.

    • WOW Rally, thank you for sharing! Just knowing the glass shattered during the self clean mode would freak me out knowing all that heat is building up. Kudos to Kitchen Aid for at least taking some accountability even though it still takes money out of your pocket. I would offer NOT using your self clean mode is a GOOD thing because of the damage it causes over time…but that is for another post.

  84. maureen katz says:

    For no reason when I went to take out the dinner the glass how shattered on the Kitchen Aid Wall Oven door.

  85. Elizabeth Cervantes says:

    Hi Mike. I had my oven outer glass door shatter for no reason. It is a GE stainless steal oven.My daughter was getting something out of the fridge and it suddenly cracked and shattered. No one had used it that day. I don’t use the self cleaning because I just don’t trust the high temps. I didn’t know you could complain so I didn’t. I just called GE, told them what happened and they said I would have to buy a replacement door since I was over my warranty. I bought the replacement and installed it my self.

    • Hello Elizabeth, thank you for sharing your story. In my research I’ve found that most oven doors shatter during times when the oven hasn’t been used for a while and will suddenly explode for no apparent reason. I’m glad you’re daughter wasn’t injured, the explosion had to scare her terribly.

  86. Graham says:

    Nice article Mike. My own experience of glass shattering was caused by my own fault. I had an oven with a glass top cover that when it wasn’t in use could be used as a work service. I one day I put this top down but had left on, by accident, one of the hob rings. It exploded hurling small molten glass bits all over my kitchen. Luckily I wasn’t in there at the time and it was an insurance claim.

  87. Nick W says:

    How interesting. Thanks for sharing. Hopefully my oven stays in one piece!

    • Lori says:

      We have an 11.5 year old Whirlpool self-cleaning oven. About 3 years ago the glass on the inside broke during a self-clean. We continued to use it without any problems since it was going to be $250 to replace the door. We’re even cleaned in between the doors successful but yesterday, after cooking the Christmas turkey, the cracked glass started to fall out. My question is how safe is it to continue using this way or is it time to replace it?

      • Hi Lori ~ Thanks for your comments. If you have an interior glass panel that has been broken for a while and glass pieces are beginning to fall out I would recommend replacing the glass. You should be able to replace the glass without replacing the entire door unless you have a very old model where the glass is integrated into the door? The glass in the doors acts like a weight to keep the door open and closed as well as acts as a insulator from the heat. You should replace the glass.

        Regards,
        Mike


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