Cooktop Installation by and for Dummies

Cooktop cutout dimensions

No matter how many times we say it, it bears repeating: if you want instructions on how to do something, ask someone who knows. Take, for instance, today's nominee: if you want to know, "How to Install GE Cooktops," it's in your best interest to ask someone who installs GE cooktops for a living. At the very least, you would be wise to ask someone who's installed a cooktop at one time or another. We can't be certain, but it's pretty likely that HomeSteady.com author Daniel Holzer does not fall in that category.

Holzer's strategy for compiling an answer to the query was simple: find three different online versions of installation instructions for GE cooktops and... combine them. Unfortunately, Dan's ignorance of the process stood in the way. That's why he never mentions that a cooktop fits in a hole in a counter or that this opening must meet size specifications. Instead, Holzer's steps are replete with stupidities such as,

• "Shut off the electrical power to the outlet where the cooktop will be plugged in. Installing the cooktop without shutting off the power can result in serious injury or death..." — Need we say, "Duh"? Really, he thinks an electric cooktop's gonna be "plugged in"?
• "Install a junction box with screws underneath the area where the cooktop will go." — Gee, Dan, wouldn't it be a good idea to run an electrical circuit to the spot?
• "Line the edge of the cooktop with the included foam tape and screw the mounting brackets along those edges with the mounting screws..." — Really? Line "the edge"? Maybe "the underside" would be better?
• "Set the cooktop into the opening. Verify there is at least 15 inches clearance from adjacent walls and cabinets and 30 inches clearance from the cooktop to the bottom of the cabinets overhead" — Ummm, poop for brains, the instructions you reference say 1¾" to 2¾" from the wall behind the cooktop...

• "Secure the cooktop to the counter with four wood screws for standard counters and four masonry screws for tiled counters..." — WTF is a "standard counter," anyway? And FWIW, most cooktops are installed with mounting hardware on the bottom of the counter, not the top. Didn't know that, didja, Danny?
• "Connect the gas supply to the cooktop pipe, if your GE cooktop is a gas model. Turn on the pipe's shutoff valve and check that the coupling is tightened and secure." — To the "cooktop pipe," You say? How? ICYDK, Daniel, you must use a supply line purchased separately. And you forgot the regulator... and to tell them they must always use a new supply line. And how to test for good connections...

We don't know about anyone else, but for our money, Holzer did a pretty lousy job. He failed to mention verifying the dimensions of the rough opening, clearly had no idea how to connect the cooktop to a power supply or gas line, and blew past the instructions for mounting the cooktop to the counter. All that from a Dumbass of the Day who thinks you install a cooktop because...

"When a kitchen is not designed for housing a full stove, the solution is a cooktop range..."

We repeat: "Duh."

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