1. the spill is a normal occurrence during normal cooking--told that by all women cooks I know.

2. the spill was able to penetrate the sealed area because of the faulty design, gaps in the cooktop cover.

3. the position of the ignitors was poorly chosen, too accessible to any spills, slightly raised surface where ignitors are attached would protect them from a catastrophic spills, not just a tiny one

4. Whirlpool arbitrarily proclaimed this incident being an "abuse" of a product. This could be a manifestation of their general policy/behavior to shift the blame to a consumer.