A vaulted oven’s grill function is not simply the main heating element running at a higher setting. On both the gas and electric versions of the La Cornue vaulted oven, the grill is controlled by its own separate circuit, distinct from the bottom heat used for ordinary baking and roasting — which means one can fail completely while the other continues to work normally.
How the Two Are Actually Separated
On the gas oven, one control — often labeled as the simmerstat — operates the grill at the top of the vault, while a separate thermostat controls the main gas burner used for baking. On the electric oven, the same split exists: a simmerstat activates the grill’s heating resistance while a separate thermostat controls the heating element beneath the oven floor. In both cases, the grill and the bake function are, mechanically, two different heat sources sharing one cavity.
Why This Matters for Diagnosis
If baking and roasting work exactly as they always have, but the grill will not heat when selected, the problem is isolated to the grill’s own circuit — its element or burner, and the control that activates it — without needing to look anywhere near the main bake heat. The reverse is equally true: a grill that works perfectly while ordinary baking runs cool or uneven points at the bake-side burner or element instead, with no reason to suspect the grill circuit at all. A grill that heats only intermittently, cycling on and off in a way that does not match the pattern you are used to, is worth timing and describing the same way as any other cycling behavior before assuming the whole circuit has failed.
Using the Grill Safely While You Test
Because using the grill calls for the oven door to be kept ajar with the drip tray pulled forward as a heat shield for the control knobs, an unfamiliar clicking or smell while the door is open is worth paying attention to directly rather than assuming it is simply how the grill sounds — if anything seems off during use, switch the grill off at the control rather than continuing to test it.
What to Report When You Call
Naming exactly which function is not working — grill only, bake only, or both — is one of the most useful things you can tell a technician before a visit, since it immediately narrows the search to one of two largely independent systems inside the same oven rather than starting from scratch on the whole cavity.
Why This Is Not a Self-Repair
Whether the affected circuit turns out to be gas or electric, opening the oven’s control area or heating element enclosure to test or replace a part is technician work, not something to take apart on your own.
If your oven’s grill and bake functions are not both working the way they should, a La Cornue oven repair visit tests each circuit separately rather than assuming one problem explains both.