6 Ways to Get Rid of Weird Kitchen Smells
The dishes are clean, the counter’s wiped down, and table settings are in order. Your kitchen looks perfect enough for a magazine to come in and photograph. But what would the photographer say as she stepped inside and took a deep breath?
If you have odors lingering in the air from last night’s dinner, you’re not alone. The first step to getting smells out of your kitchen is finding the culprit. It’s not always as easy as pinpointing the trash can or the leftover Chinese food in the fridge, but you can usually find it if you just follow your nose until you cringe.
With this in mind, we collected nine ways to get rid of funky smells in your kitchen, so you can cook to your heart’s content without worrying about lingering and pungent smells.
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1. Baking Soda as Air Freshener
A box of baking soda is commonly used to soak up smells in the refrigerator, but it’s also extremely useful in the kitchen itself. While you can simply put out a few bowls around the cooking space, we suggest taking the extra effort and simmering some baking soda and water together on the stove.
2. Clean as You Go
It can be tempting to dump all the bowls, pans, cutting boards and more in your sink while cooking with the “I’ll take care of that later” mentality, but cleaning up as you go is an efficient way to get rid of certain smells (like onion, garlic, and grease). Instead of letting these smells percolate and get stronger, thoroughly wash and clean the cooking utensils and tools as soon as possible. Bonus: You will have less tidying up later and more time to flop down in front of Netflix.
3. Trash Odors
No worries; this is an easy fix. To mask odors from trash, place fresh lemon or orange peels in the bottom of your garbage pail. To kill two birds with one stone, clean up the peel from the orange packed in the kids’ lunchbox by tossing it under the bag instead of inside one! That way, you’re cleaning up while also deodorizing! Replace as needed to keep the container smelling sweet.
4. Wooden Kitchenware
Adorning your kitchen with wooden bowls, spoons, and salad tongs can give the room a natural and organic feel. On the other hand, it’ll be a dead giveaway that you’re not in a serene forest when your woodenware makes your kitchen smell like the dinner it helped spoon out — it seems unlikely that chicken a la king or beef stew occur anywhere in nature.
Because wood is so porous, woodenware can be hard to clean, but it doesn’t have to be. Get rid of odors on wooden bowls, wooden salad utensils and wooden cutting boards by simply rubbing the surface with the cut side of a lemon. Easy peasy, lemon squeezy!
5. Incorporate Cinnamon
Speaking of cinnamon, this spice is beloved around the world for its addictive, aromatic, and health-giving properties. Although its cozy scent is most closely associated with the holiday season, it would be a welcome alternative to the lingering smell of fried food year-round. Simply simmering a few cinnamon sticks in water for about 30 minutes will do wonders for changing the vibe in your kitchen from “State Fair” to warm and inviting.
6. Refresh with Lemons
Cinnamon isn’t the only thing you can boil in water to simmer scents away. Additions like cut-up lemons, lemon peels, or other citrus peels, vanilla, spices, or bay leaves also work wonders to eradicate funky smells. You can even vary according to the season, using lemon for a refreshing springtime scent and going with a deep orange peel and cloves during cooler months.
