"It's fifteen years old — should I just replace it?" We hear that on a lot of Hillsborough service calls, often in a kitchen where the built-in was specified to match the cabinetry down to the panel. The honest answer almost never rests on the age. It rests on which part failed, whether that part is available, and what the sealed system actually reads on the gauges.
Here is the framework we walk through with an owner, so you can see the call the way we do before any work is quoted.
The repairs that almost always make sense
An evaporator or condenser fan, a worn door gasket, a clogged condenser, a control board, a water valve or an ice-maker module — these are bounded faults with genuine OEM parts in good supply. On a Sub-Zero engineered to run fifteen to twenty years, fixing one of them on an otherwise sound unit is almost always the right call, and in a Hillsborough estate kitchen where the unit is panelled to match custom cabinetry, replacing the whole appliance over a $400 part rarely adds up.
Where the decision gets genuinely close
The expensive fault is the sealed system — a refrigerant leak or a failing compressor. On a newer unit we put gauges on it, show you the pressures, and it is usually still worth repairing. On an older unit with a long, hard history we will show you the same numbers and sometimes tell you it is time to plan a replacement. We would rather lose the repair than sell you one that does not make sense. Either way the recommendation rests on readings you can see, and the $89 diagnostic goes toward the work if you proceed.