Range - Urbana,IL

If you can afford to replace it, I would go that route. 12 years old in today's quality of "craftsmanship" is OLD. A service call (just to drive out) is likely to cost you $100, and they have no idea how much labor charges or materials/components charges will be. You could easily be looking at $500 or $700 worth of "repair" costs.
For that, I think I would just buy new, and have a warranty on a new product. If you can afford to do so.

I would just replace. Even a gas stove can be improved on efficiency.

Price out a new one, I think you can get a decent one for about $500 or less. last year when we redid our kitchen we priced some-$250 500 .. Might have been a few banged up ones for less.

Service call is going to be $100 at least + parts and added labor.
Given the age, I would look to replace.

If you can swing it, replace it. The service costs add up very quickly once they arrive. Check out one of the large retailers... may will allow you to pay over a year without interest if you open a credit card. My neighbor did this when three major appliances died within a week... oven/range, washer and dishwasher. She was in a panic, but Lowes offered an interest-free year and a discount for bundling the appliance plus free delivery and installation.

Call around and find out about any deals that are coming up soon! Most places will be able to tell you if they will be running a special in the coming weeks.

Wow, I am surprised that all of your answers so far have been to replace it. My suggestion would be to fix it. Generally Whirlpool appliances are good appliances and can be repaired. My house was built in the 50s and still has the original appliances in the kitchen. My oven (electric) recently stopped working and we called a repairman. He replaced a wire for us. The parts to fix the oven were less than $3 and he at my house less than an hour. Our total was less then $40 to fix it. I can't guarantee that your costs would be as low, but it is worth a shot. It shouldn't cost you much for them to come out and tell you what the problem is so that you can make an educated decision. We recently fixed our dryer and the cost for the part was pretty high, but it was still less than buying a new dryer and, in my opinion, better for the environment than buying a new dryer.

If you find a good repairman (I would suggest checking Angie's List) chances are good that your stove can be fixed.

Also, with the post about efficiency, I don't know much about efficiency in gas stoves, but gas is cheap currently and you don't hear much about the energy efficiency of stoves, so I can't imagine you would make up the cost of a new stove quickly. Plus, the environmental damage done by trashing your current stove and done by making and shipping the new stove is pretty high. Here is a pretty good article about when to replace vs. repair, but there are no details about stoves: http://www.revisionarch.com/Library/Repair%20or%20Replace... I think the advice I have seen most often is: If the repair will cost more than half the price of a new, more efficient model, it may be time to do some shopping.

Good luck.

I would have it checked and then decide. We bought our current stove in Oct 1995. The electronic igniter does not always cooperate and we have to light the burners but they still work. I will buy a new one sometime or other but for now, it is fine. I had to have the oven thermal couple changed about 8 yrs ago, paid $128 vs buying a new stove.

I'm surprised that a range that is just 12 years old still has pilot lights. I'd buy a new stove simply for safety reasons.
J.

I'd replace it. Find a place doing zero percent financing.

I'd see what they said but only if you like your stove and it cooks well. If it has it's own idiosyncrasies then you might want to think about getting a new one.

I love my new stove, it inspires me to clean it....lol. It is shiny and new and is perfect with nothing wrong at all.

I had whirlpool schedule a repair guy come out to my house to check out my washer. Turns out my washer wasn't worth repairing, but one thing to note is how much it will cost if you schedule with a service company through whirlpool. It cost me $172 just for them to tell me it could not be fixed. The guy told me it would have been $65 if I had just called him directly instead of going through whirlpool to make the appointment. Just something to keep in mind.

Our igniter when out on our oven twice and we replaced it with a $40 (maybe) part. After the second time we finally replaced the whole thing since it was nearly 20 yrs old at that point. But the igniter was cheap. Look for an appliance repair shop by you. That's where we got our answer and part.