The Castel 60 replaces the knobs that control every other current La Cornue range with a touch-sensitive panel, and a small grease film is often enough to make it stop responding.

The ceramic glass surface over a La Cornue induction zone is durable but not scratch-proof, and how pans are handled day to day does more to protect it than any cleaning product.

A well-seasoned teppanyaki plate cooks more evenly and resists sticking and rust — and knowing the difference between plate wear and a heating problem saves an unnecessary repair call.

A La Cornue induction hob’s child lock, keep-warm, and boost functions are built-in safety and convenience features — and knowing what they look like prevents them from being mistaken for a problem.

The French top rewards a bit of technique — understanding its heat zones and treating the plaque gently extends its life and makes it far more useful day to day.

An induction zone that will not heat, or that hums louder than expected, is often about the pan rather than the hob — induction only works with certain cookware, and some noise at high power is normal.

A burner that suddenly starts clicking without lighting right after a boil-over or a cleaning session is very often simply wet, not broken — and drying it out the right way is the first thing worth trying.

The reversible Joker plate and the dedicated simmering plate are two different accessories on a La Cornue cooktop, and they fail — and get cared for — in different ways.

The gas lava-rock grill fitted to some Château cooktops depends on the rock bed staying clean — and most of what looks like a grill failure is really the rock bed clogging with grease and ash.

A French top that heats unevenly, or that has developed a crack, describes two different problems — one about a burner underneath, the other about how the plate itself has been treated.