In a small apartment, cooking can create some pretty unbearable smells. There is nothing more frustrating than coming home from a long day of work, and smelling the scent of something you were cooking. The worst part is that it lingers in your kitchen for hours afterward. Luckily though, there are many ways to avoid this unfortunate situation. This can be hard since the kitchen is often located just next to your living room. Fortunately, here are 13 tips on how to get rid of cooking smells in a small apartment.
In this blog post, we will be going over many tips to avoid those unpleasant odors from ruining your day and teach you how to get rid of cooking smells in a small apartment once and for all!
Why does my kitchen smells bad while/after cooking?
The first thing to do is understand the reason behind your cooking smells. It may be that you are not using an extractor or opening windows while you cook which means all of those fumes are lingering in the room, making it hard for others to breathe.
This can happen if there’s no extractor working properly or even worse – if you don’t open up any windows when cooking food with strong odors like onion and garlic! Whatever your problem is, here are multiple tips to avoid this unfortunate situation.
1. Close the kitchen after cooking
This is pretty straightforward, yet so many people forget to do it! The kitchen should be closed off as soon as possible after you finish cooking. This way those unpleasant smells won’t have the chance to come out into the rest of your home and make everyone uncomfortable.
Some kitchens are open and can’t be closed off, but you can always turn on the extractor and open up windows or vents if they’re available to help get rid of cooking smells.
2. Use a vent or open windows during cooking
Using an extractor fan or opening up your windows can help get rid of all those bad smells created by food which will go away much faster than if we don’t use these two techniques. Make sure that the extractor works properly though – otherwise, there’s no point in using it.
Many people have an extractor but never use it. You can put it to use while you cook and keep your kitchen smelling fresh and clean.
3. Clean up the cooking area afterward
It’s not enough to just close off your kitchen after cooking because, if anything spills or splatters around there, this will also create an unbearable smell in your house! Make sure to wipe down any surfaces that might have been spilled on before you leave for work so nothing bad happens overnight.
If necessary, use a cleaning product such as vinegar which is very efficient when it comes to removing smells from hardwood floors or other kinds of flooring materials. A clean kitchen is a clean mind!
4. Use an air purifier
If you live in a small apartment, it’s not always possible to open up windows or vents. If this is your situation, there are other ways to get rid of cooking smells like using an air purifier which will help improve the quality of your home’s atmosphere by removing any unwanted odors.
This solution also applies if you don’t have enough time before work – simply turn on that device and let it do its job while you’re out so when you come back everything will smell fresh again! Keep one at hand just in case…
5. Light scented candles or light incense sticks for some aromatherapy
Scented candles can be used as well but they’re not always efficient when it comes to getting rid of cooking smells. If you’re in a hurry, simply light up your favorite scented candle which can help mask the bad odor for just some minutes but won’t remove all aromas from your kitchen completely.
If you have more time on your hands or want to work towards making sure everything smells fresh again, light up incense sticks instead – these are much better at eliminating odors than candles!
6. Boil cinnamon or citrus peel
Have you ever tried boiling some citrus peel or cinnamon in water? This is considered to be a very efficient way of getting rid of cooking smells quickly.
If your kitchen still stinks, boil some lemon peels for about fifteen minutes and let the smell spread through your whole home – it will also help improve air quality so this is definitely something worth trying!
7. Simmer white vinegar on the stovetop
White vinegar has an unpleasant odor but it can easily mask other odors which are stronger. If possible, simmer some white vinegar on low heat with open windows nearby to get rid of bad smells coming from food once and for all!
8. Use diffusing oils
Some diffusing oils are known to be great at getting rid of cooking smells so you can simply go ahead and try them out! They’re also very efficient in case your trash bin stinks – just add a few drops of essential oil into some water, put it on low heat for about fifteen minutes, then let the aroma spread through your home.
9. Soak the chopping board
If you want to avoid cooking smells as much as possible, make sure to soak your chopping board right after using it. This way the bad odor won’t stick to its surface and spread through your home!
10. Fill up a cup with coffee grains
Coffee grounds are also good at absorbing bad odors so you can fill up a cup with them and let them absorb the smell of cooking food in your kitchen. Once this is done, simply throw the whole thing away – yep, that’s all there is to it!
11. Use a splatter screen while cooking
When frying or boiling foods on high heat, make sure to use a splatter screen that will keep everything contained inside your pot instead of flying around everywhere else. This way not only will you avoid creating an unpleasant odor but prevent anything from getting into your eyes/arms as well.
12. If necessary, sprinkle baking soda in your trash can
Baking soda has many uses when it comes to eliminating smells so you can sprinkle some of it into your trash bin to get rid of any leftover odors that might still be lingering around.
13. Add kitten litter to your trash can
If you don’t have baking soda at hand, simply add some clean cat litter instead! This is very efficient when it comes to absorbing smells and other kinds of liquid messes – so if the smell bothers you but not enough for removing everything out in the open or calling somebody else, make use of this little trick!
The bottom line
In the end, cooking smells are definitely something you want to avoid in a small apartment because they can easily spread through the whole space. Sometimes even the curtains or furniture can start smelling so if you’re not careful, the whole place may end up looking and feeling dirty.
To prevent that from happening, simply follow these tips which are all very efficient in dealing with cooking smells as quickly as possible! Now that you know how to get rid of cooking smells in your small apartment leave us a comment below if this article helped you!