The kitchen is responsible for some of the worst and most persistent household odors. Daily cooking, spoiled food, and spills can produce some bad smells, so if you don’t stay on top of them, kitchen odors can become unbearable and affect your entire house.
There are some pretty basic ways to control kitchen odors, like regular cleaning and opening doors and windows occasionally to let some fresh air in (and not-so-fresh air out), but it takes more than these simple actions to get rid of the strongest kitchen odors.
Here are a few suggestions to help freshen your kitchen air …
Smelly Kitchen? Try These Tips …
When your kitchen needs more than just a good cleaning to get rid of odors from cooking, garbage, and moldy drains, try the things listed below:
Citrus Fruit Peels
Lemons and oranges are strong scents associate with a clean home. This isn’t a coincidence. These fruits are highly acidic, so they can cut through grease in your kitchen drain to remove stale odors and leave behind a pleasant, natural scent in the process.
Clean & Dry Stinky Sponges
Sponges are known to harbor bacteria, especially when left wet on the kitchen counter or in the sink. Stinky sponges are due to mold and bacteria that grow in them when they are wet.
To reduce odors from your sponges, be sure to squeeze all the moisture out of them that you can, and allow them to air out in a well-ventilated area. You can microwave sponges to kill bacteria, or run them through the dishwasher. And don’t forget to replace them frequently.
Homemade Air Fresheners
Air freshening products can get expensive. Plus, there may be ingredients in them that you don’t want in your home. Fortunately, it’s easy and affordable to make your own air freshener at home.
Start by filling a small spray bottle with ¾ cup of water. Then add 2 tablespoons of vodka (rubbing alcohol works, too), and 10-20 drops of essential oil. Spray this air freshener in the kitchen after cleaning or in any other room of the house for a temporary fresh scent! However, DIY air fresheners will not eliminate kitchen odors long-term.
Clean Your Garbage Can
Garbage cans and recycling bins get ignored during routine cleaning, but they are a major source of kitchen odors.
Spraying the receptacle with a deodorizer when you change the bag each time can help with odors, but they need soap and water cleanings, too.
Plastic holds on to odors longer than metal, so switching out your plastic trash bins for metal ones can also reduce odors.
Neutralize Cooking Odors
Vinegar has long been used as a natural cleaning solution because of its ability to neutralize odors. You can minimize the effect of strong cooking odors (like fried foods or fish) by boiling a pot of water with a little vinegar in it to prevent these stronger smells from lingering.
Add about one tablespoon of vinegar for every cup of water to a pot and boil uncovered while cleaning up the kitchen. But, vinegar will not help to remove lingering cooking odors.
Simmer Aromatics in Kitchen
Any time you want to improve the way your home smells, you can make your own simmer pot using just about anything you have lying around.
Common ingredients include citrus rinds, mint leaves, rose petals, rosemary, and cranberries; but you can get creative and use woodsy items found outdoors, a unique spice blend, and essential oils. Keep your stove eye on low and add water as needed. This does not eliminate kitchen odors but it creates a pleasant smell for a short time.
Baking Soda in Refrigerator
An open container of baking soda is the oldest trick in the book for absorbing odors. That’s because it works!
Put it in a cute bowl or container instead of leaving it in the box if you’re concerned about aesthetics. Replace the baking soda regularly to keep fridge odors at a minimum.
Utilize Exhaust Fan
Your kitchen exhaust fan is your most powerful weapon against odors, smoke, temperature and humidity — but only if you remember to turn it on! And don’t neglect cleaning it so it will function at maximum ability.
If you don’t have an exhaust fan in your kitchen, consider having one installed.
Ongoing Drain Cleaning
If you don’t have a garbage disposal, you’ll have to find another way to clear your drains so they don’t lead to odors and mold in the kitchen.
Here’s an easy drain cleaning routine that uses household products: First, clean out the sink basin. Then pour a mixture of ½ cup of salt, ½ cup baking soda, and 1/8 cup cream of tartar down the drain. Pour 6-8 cups of boiling water to activate the dry mixture. Let it sit for a few minutes and then run cold water to flush it out.
Buy Bio-Bombs Odor Eliminators!
The cleaning practices above can help to prevent kitchen odors and some of the DIY air freshening techniques can provide temporary relief from bad kitchen smells. But in the end, none of them will actually remove odors from your kitchen. For that, you’re going to want to check out Bio-Bombs odor eliminator products.
Bio-Bombs are an example of a safe, effective household deodorizer that quickly eliminate odors in just one treatment. Bio-Bombs products use chlorine dioxide to filter large, odor-producing molecules — even stubborn ones. More below …
Don’t Mask Odors. Eliminate Them!
Of all the ways to freshen your home, few of them actually eliminate odors. Most – like many of the solutions listed above – simply mask them. Masking odors does not eliminate them, so as soon as your air freshening agent or fragrance is gone, the odor will reappear.
Bio-Bombs are an exception because of the way they attack the molecules causing kitchen odors, destroying them so they’re actually gone rather than just covered up.
Bio-Bombs deodorizer and odor eliminator products are safer than ozone machines, and they don’t leave behind any residue like many air fresheners and candles. You can choose slow- or quick-release varieties to handle any type of kitchen odor. Shop here.
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