Unscrew the old one, pull it out, along with a few inches of wire. Use a couple of clothes pins to keep the wire escaping back behind the oven as you unhook them from the damaged (bad) one. Then reverse the process with the new one. No big deal. Works great now and the wife is happy.
After 26 years, the element burned out. I followed the diagrams on this website. Basically, I took out the screws that hold the element in place and carefully pulled the old element forward. The wires had fittings that slipped off the old element (with a little help from the wrench.) When the wires were disconnected, I clipped the adjustable wrench on the one of them to make sure they didn't slip back through the holes in the back of the oven. The old fittings slipped right onto the new element (couple of taps with a small hammer to get them all the way on). Them I slipped the wires back through the holes and put the two small screws in the plate at the back of the element. Quite simple, even for a guy with four thumbs.
Well, when you put the back cover on and screw it down make sure you have nothing touching the white wire leading to the oven light. I did and it blew the push switch when I threw the 220 breaker. Actually, the light was on when I came in the room, but when I pushed the switch on the front panel it sparked in the rear and popped the breaker. Then I saw the short and when I tested the switch it would not click. The install was fine.
Turned off breaker, verified that the breaker controlled the oven and was actually off. This is important since you can still get a shock from leaks in the neutral side that may surprize you if you ground one side. Also some breakers can be mislabeled on older homes. I removed the two screws holding the element to the back of the oven phillips #1 screw driver. I carefully guided the wires and attached terminals out of the recess until I had about 5 Inches of wire inside the oven exposed. Just be patient and careful, they will come out. I then unpluged the wires from the old element and attached a binder clip to the ends so they could not slip back into the oven shell. Clothes pins are also a good choice or some duct tape. I thoroughly cleaned the oven. I then installed the wire terminals to the new element and reversed the removal procedure. I then verified function and temperature of the oven settings. It took me 10 minutes not including oven cleaning time.
We lost our knob, and it was very difficult to turn the fan on or off
I googled Kitchenaid along with the model number and Parts Select came up. I then entered the model number along with what I wanted, and scrolled through different pictures until I found a sketch of my cooktop with individual numbers for each part. I selected the part, and rechecked the model number of the cooktop and ordered it. From the time I ordered on-line, until I received it, was 3 days. I am very impressed with the service, and the knob fits perfectly! Thanks so much for the excellent service!
The hardest part was taking out original light bulb because screws on shield where hard to unscrew after all this years . The old bulb vent out leaving neck in socket. It took narrow electrical pliers to get neck out .The generic appliance bulb did not fit and had aluminum neck ,not recommended for brass sockets in ovens.Putting new light bulb in was not the problem.