It’s happened to all of us. You make something for lunch or dinner, and then you can smell it in your home for hours afterward. It can get in your hair, and on your clothes, and even at the end of the night, you can smell it in different rooms. This isn’t specific to one kind of food either. It’s a rather universal thing that can occur in all kinds.
If you’re spending enough time in the kitchen, it’s bound to happen. Now, there are incredible smells that can fill your house with sweet and savory aromas. But there are also some that linger. For any that linger, there are a few things that you can do to deal with them. One in particular helps out big time.
If you’re frying, use a splatter screen
It can minimize how much the scent spreads
One of the most important ways to stop a smell from continuing in your kitchen is to clean up as soon as you can. The longer the dirty dishes, pans, cutting boards, and more sit out, the harder the smell is to get rid of.
Let’s say you’re cooking something in oil. It can be olive, canola, vegetable, grapeseed, or avocado oil. The higher the smoke point, the more you’re going to have to pay attention to the temperature. This can cause the oil to get hotter faster.
If you’re frying anything, like potatoes, any type of cutlet, wings, and more, oil is going to be one of the key components to the process. Unfortunately, oil tends to spit when it gets hot. This means it can more or less jump out of the pan and splash out onto the stove or countertop.
A splatter screen is a kitchen tool that can cover your pan while cooking and frying are happening. There are perforations and mesh holes in the metal tool that allow air to escape, so you’re not suffocating the oil. So it allows natural air flow to come in and out of the area of the pan. But it stops any splatter from escaping.
This is helpful for anyone who wants to avoid getting a potential grease burn. But it also keeps the smell from spreading. If you contain it in the pan, and then clean up the grease and wash the pan as soon as you can, the length of time the smell lasts will be minimized.
Charcoal-lined splatter screens are an option to purchase, as charcoal absorbs odors directly from the source as they hit it. This will reduce the likelihood that the smell and odor will reach other areas of your home. Of course, if you get some grease on you, eliminating the smell by changing clothes will help. Grease tends to linger on clothing.
Funky odor in the fridge? Use baking soda
The common ingredient can absorb stenches
Baking soda has been used in the kitchen for hundreds of years. You probably have put it in your fridge to eliminate odors before, as it has been a common practice for a long time.
If you have only used it for baking, baking soda is an incredibly versatile tool for many reasons. Using it in your fridge to get rid of funny smells makes a lot of sense. Sodium bicarbonate chemically reacts with odors to neutralize them.
It helps wipe the slate clean for your fridge, as an open container keeps odors at bay. Cleaning your fridge more frequently can also help with the stench. I personally like to use baking soda for that reason and for cleaning my pots, pans, and stainless steel utensils.
You can combine baking soda and water to form a paste that can clean a porcelain enamel dish, like a baking dish or a bread pan. Combining baking soda and water with a lemon can help get rid of rust on utensils. Applying some to rust, letting it sit for a while, and then scrubbing it away with the lemon can leave your kitchen tools looking as good as new.
Add a pro-grade diffuser to your kitchen
This can add good scents to the air
If you want to change the smell in your kitchen, you can opt for a scent diffuser. They typically plug into an outlet and will automatically disperse fragrance into the air. There are also smart fragrance diffusers that allow you to control when they disperse scents.
These replace the smells of foul odors with pleasant ones. They usually have vials that you must replace, so they do rely on some maintenance from you.
But the good thing is that you can pick the scents that you like the most or rotate them if you want some variety. On some of the smart diffusers, you can schedule when they are used and adjust the intensity, providing a stronger fragrance when needed.
If all else fails, get an air purifier
You may want to bring in the big guns
Air purifiers will help circulate the air by taking “bad” air and cycling it out with fresh air. It removes pollutants from air particles, captures them in a filter, and purifies the air with clean air.
This can help reduce allergens and dust, making it safer for people with asthma and other breathing conditions. If you put it in a kitchen that has some foul odors, it can take care of them rather quickly. Many air purifiers have multiple modes, so they can turn on in the background or really amplify to cycle the air out quickly.
There are many sizes of air purifiers, so you can pick the one that best suits your needs. For your kitchen, you probably need one for small spaces. You can find smart ones that can be automated or controlled by a phone. You can also find ones that just rely on manual controls. It’s all up to personal preference, but air purifiers can tackle the toughest odors quickly.
There are many ways to get rid of bad odors in your kitchen
Cooking will inevitably deliver some smells into your home. To get ahead of the problem, using a splatter screen can minimize them as you’re cooking. If the scents are lingering, opting for baking soda in the fridge, scent diffusers, or air purifiers can make a lot of sense. Of course, you should turn your range hood on to ventilate the area while you’re cooking to help stop the problem as it starts.
