Ten checks separate a Sub-Zero built-in specialist from a generalist with a van, and a Los Altos owner can run all 10 in about 15 minutes on the phone. Book the company that passes 8 or more, and treat a fail on sealed-system capability, parts sourcing or insurance as disqualifying however it scores elsewhere.
This is a vetting document, not a price list. Kitchens in the 94022 and 94024 ZIPs hold 500- and 600-series built-ins now 15 to 25 years old, many with condensers recessed behind soffits, so guesswork gets punished. Each point carries the step that proves the claim and the answer that ends the call.
How Does This 10-Point Checklist Work?
Every point has the same three parts: a claim the company makes, a verification step you can run without technical knowledge, and a fail line. Eight passes is the booking threshold, since no independent shop clears every item on every job. Three carry veto power: sealed-system capability, parts sourcing, proof of insurance. A fail on any of those ends the evaluation, whatever the tally.
Points 1 to 3: Does the Company Actually Repair Built-In Refrigeration?
Point 1: a built-in shop names series, not brands. Verify: ask which Sub-Zero series the dispatcher has put parts on this month, and listen for numbers, a 632, a 650, a BI-36U or 700-series drawers. Fail: "we do all brands."
Point 2, the first veto: sealed-system work stays in-house. Verify: ask who brazes, whether a recovery machine and micron gauge ride on the van, and how EPA Section 608 handling gets logged. Fail: the sealed system goes to a subcontractor.
Point 3: classic built-ins run dual refrigeration, two compressors and two evaporators. Verify: ask which compartment the fault sits in. Fail: any answer treating the cabinet as one circuit.
Points 4 and 5: Can They Service a Recessed, Panel-Ready Column?
Point 4 is the local one: can they clean a condenser nobody can reach from the front? Ranch kitchens in North Los Altos and remodels along the Rancho corridor routinely bury the grille behind a soffit or cabinet return. Verify: ask whether the unit comes out to do it, and what protects the hardwood meanwhile. Fail: the grille comes off and the answer stops there.
Point 5: cabinetry is half of a column job. Verify: ask who re-hangs the custom panel and how the reveal gaps get trued after a 600-pound unit rolls back into place. Fail: nobody has thought about the panel.
Points 6 and 7: Where Do the Parts Come From and Who Backs the Labor?
Point 6, the second veto, is where the parts come from. Verify: ask for the part number before the technician leaves, then match it against the model plate inside the fresh-food compartment. Genuine components trace to your series; gray-market boards arrive with generic labels and a suspiciously fast quote. Fail: nobody will write a number down.
Point 7: a labor guarantee exists only on the invoice, with a stated term, 365 days in this shop's case. Verify: ask for that term in writing before booking. Fail: a verbal promise, worth nothing when the same evaporator fan quits in March.
Points 8 and 9: Is the Work Insured and Priced Before It Starts?
Point 8, the last veto, is liability insurance. Verify: ask the carrier to send a certificate, which an insured company produces within a day. A heavy column crossing white oak is the exact scenario it exists for. Fail: a delay past 48 hours, or an explanation of why paperwork is unnecessary.
Point 9: the estimate goes in writing before a tool comes out. Verify: ask for parts and labor on separate lines, the diagnostic fee stated, the total fixed. Fail: cash-only totals, verbal numbers, "we will see what it needs."
Point 10: Ask What the Fix Costs Before Anyone Says Replace
Point 10 is the item owners skip, and it is where the money sits. Verify: get the repair price, in dollars, before any conversation about a new unit. This site publishes the figures: an $89 diagnostic, waived when you approve the work; $300 to $900 for thermistors and evaporator fan motors; $200 to $650 for condenser service; $350 to $1,300 for a control board; $1,500 to $3,800 plus parts for a sealed-system rebuild. The full table sits on our built-in repair cost page.
Set any of those against replacement, which this site does not price - we do not sell new units. What our cost pages do say is that a built-in, when new, cost several times a sealed-system repair, and a panel-ready column is a special order, not something a truck brings this week. In the units we see, a sound repair on a 15-year-old built-in buys another 5 to 10 years, past the original design life. Fail: a replacement quote with no reading, no part number, no price for the fix.
When Does the Checklist Send You to Replacement Instead?
Replacement is the honest answer in two cases, and a company that says so has passed the hardest item on this list. The first is a refrigerant leak inside a foamed-in cabinet past 25 years, where reaching the tubing means tearing out insulation while gaskets, hinges and controls sit on the same expiring clock. The second is a part that no longer exists: certain pre-1990s boards and compressors have no genuine equivalent. Everything else, from warm zones and frost to split temperatures on a dual-refrigeration column, is repairable, and pricing that repair against a special-order wait is the whole exercise. Run us through the same 10 points before booking anyone.