How to Stop Your Kitchen from Smelling after Cooking!

Sometimes you cook things and they smell amazing. But then the scent lingers for many hours – and possibly days – after. Especially if you’re cooking anything involving spices; you’ll smell that for ages and it gets into the furniture and your clothes, causing them to smell too. 

You can’t avoid scents from being released when you cook, but you can do things to stop your kitchen from smelling after. Here are three very simple methods that make a huge difference: 

Turn On Your Extractor Fan

Every kitchen should have an extractor fan. If for some weird reason yours doesn’t, then you need to get one ASAP. When turned on, this fan will extract heat and air from your cooker, sucking it out of your kitchen. As such, it takes a lot of the smell with it. 

If your kitchen smells for ages after cooking, there’s a strong chance your fan either doesn’t work or is really old and clogged with dust. You can clean it or get a new kitchen hood with a better fan installed. Suck up all the fumes from your cooking and you’ll see a decrease in the smell after. 

Open A Window

The solution to any bad smells in your house is to open a window. Do this while you’re cooking – if the weather permits it – or open a window for a bit after. It’s up to you, but doing it while you cook is usually better as it lets the scent flow out the window and away from your kitchen so it can’t linger. 

Also, you tend to get hot while cooking, so having a window open helps you cool down. Leaving it ajar after may make you cold while you eat. Either way, the window should be open at some point and your house can breathe. Not only will this help you avoid lingering food smells, but it will also assist in controlling the humidity levels and stopping your home from getting too humid. 

Light A Candle After

Who doesn’t love a candle? They have the uncanny ability to neutralize odors and take over your house with lovely smells. Before you light your favorite cookie candle, know that some scents are better at covering and getting rid of odors than others. 

You’re mainly looking at the citrus candles here. It’s good to have one around your kitchen work area that you can light when you’ve finished cooking and washing up. It’ll burn in the background and replace the cooking smells with a nice zingy citrus hit. 

The best way to stop your kitchen from smelling after cooking is to use these three tactics together. Let your extractor fan and window remove as much of the smell as possible while you cook before relying on your candle. Perform the in-and-out smell test to see the difference this makes; leave the kitchen for a few minutes and then come back in. You’ll instantly smell a nice scent and it will be like you didn’t even cook at all.