Kitchen smells getting you down? If you have ever actually used your kitchen, then you’ve run into this problem. We all have.
For whatever reason, you have tried to clean and sanitize but the smells still linger. Instead of doing it all over again, try these tricks to make your kitchen smell great in no time and keep it smelling that way!
Related Post >> How to Make Your Stinky House Smell Like a SPA – this post explains how I tracked down the essential oil diffuser scents that I encountered at a five star spa hotel in Salt Lake City!
Step 1) Keep It Simple & Look for the Source
First things first, you can’t get rid of smells if the offending junk is still around.
Empty out your trash can, throw away old food from the fridge, make sure there isn’t an onion or potato rotting in the pantry. Just do a full sweep of the area and get the crud out of the room.
It is so basic, but oftentimes we get caught up in the symptoms (i.e. the smell) that we don’t look at the source of the odor.
Let me tell you a short story… I had this awful smell around my sink area, I thought it may be the sink itself or the disposal. I used bleach, didn’t work. Baking soda, didn’t work. Peroxide, didn’t work. Lemons, didn’t work. Soap, didn’t work. Nothing was working!
Turns out, it wasn’t the sink at all. It was a small potted plant on the window sill above the sink. The roots had gotten some kind of mold on them, and they smelled like rotten eggs. I just cleaned and refreshed the pot and my problems were solved. It took about 5 minutes. I did all of that extra work when all I needed to do was look for the right source.
Use The Right Tools For The Job
Make things easier on yourself and get the equipment you need before you begin. Kitchens are pretty easy to clean if you have basic items.
You need something to wipe/clean with, bags to put stuff in, water, and a cleaning solution. There are so many preferences out there for each of these that I couldn’t possible go over each one, so I’ll just put my favorites down here.
Wiping/Cleaning
I’m a sponge, paper towel and scrub brush girl. I just could never get used to using a dish cloth, though sometimes I will use a hand towel to wipe the fridge doors down.
Sometimes these items can even do the job for you. For example, if you have baked on food stuck to your stove or countertop, add warm, soapy water to a few paper towels and sit them right on top of the mess. Just leave it on there for 20 minutes, and when the time is up, you simply wipe it off and toss the mess. Super simple and efficient. No hard scrubbing needed.
Trash Bags
I like to have two types of bags around, the plastic grocery bags from any store and large trash can bags. The small grocery bags are good for wrapping up items you know are typical odor makers, like meat trays, peels and cuttings from cooking, and when throwing away leftovers. If you put these items in the bags before you toss them and you won’t have to worry about smelling them every time you open the trash can lid.
For the longest time I used the economy type kitchen trash bags in my trash can until recently when a friend turned me onto something better. A bag that holds the smell in and keeps the overall smell under control so well that it seems like I started cleaning my trash can every day!
They’re the Glad Kitchen Pro trash bags. They are a kitchen bag version of those strong black outdoor bags, and they’re scented with Febreze which keeps the smells under control!
Because of double-bag protection, you don’t have to worry about leaks and items poking through the sides as you carry the bag to your outdoor trash can. If you look at them up close, you can even see the double layer protection. They even have Febreze odor neutralization which helps with bad smells.
I feel like these have made a huge difference since I started using them! They are way better at keeping smells under control than regular single layer kitchen trash bags.
Cleaning Solution
This is the main one that has a thousand-million-trillion different options. But the simplest option works wonder – just use a little dish soap and white vinegar for a cost-effective cleaning combo that also neutralizes odors.
You can get a jug of vinegar at the grocery store for a few bucks, and it will last you for a few months, depending on how often you clean. The same goes for dish soap.
When you have the right tools for the job, you can remove yucky smells from your kitchen in no time.
Just make sure you have plenty of what you need ready before you begin, so you don’t have to break your momentum. Nothing makes a job take forever like running out of supplies!
17 Tricks To Keep A Kitchen Smelling Fresh
These are a few of the tricks I either use or have seen that really do work to keep your kitchen smelling nice.
- Use dryer sheets all over the place. You can place a dryer sheet on shelves, under the sink, in the pantry and in the garbage can between the liner and the bag. ***Not inside of the bag, it will just get wet and won’t deodorize this way***
- Keep an open box of baking soda in your cabinets and fridge.
- Simmer citrus in water on the stove. Lemons and oranges smell so good and fresh.
- Hang dried herbs.
- Crush ice in your disposal with lemons or lemonade mix once per week.
- Use the same lemonade mix in your dishwasher weekly and wipe up any food that is caught in the bottom of the washer.
- Wipe off the burner of your coffee pot. Old burnt coffee smells pretty gross.
- Clean the tray on the fridge. If you have a water spout on your fridge, it’s easy to forget about the standing water that can get moldy and smelly under the tray.
- Wipe down the drawers and door shelves inside the fridge weekly. If they aren’t clear, it’s hard to see the food bits that can get trapped in them and this really smells bad!
- Store food correctly. You don’t want to keep garlic or potatoes beside the sink or somewhere else they could get wet. They need a cool dry place to hang out.
- Use the fan or open a window when you cook. Duh right?!? I forget this one all the time.
- Put an open glass of white vinegar on the counter. It doesn’t work immediately, but if you do this before bed, you’ll wake up to a fresher smelling kitchen!
- Pull out the fridge and stove and clean under them!! Do this at least 3 times a year. You’ll find food, kid and animal toys, pencils, missing buttons…all sorts of things under there.
- Wipe off the stove hood. All sorts of grease and dust get stuck in and on top of that thing and the grease has an unpleasant scent when you smell really closely.
- Clean under the cabinets. Don’t forget about those places that you can’t see. They get just as much grease as the stove hood from condensation during cooking.
- Hang potpourri sachets like these in an inconspicuous spot. Even attached underneath the bottom edge of a cabinet works!
- Run an essential oils diffuser near a walkway. Give everyone something pleasant to smell from the second they enter your kitchen!
Get Ahead Of The Smells Before They Happen
Don’t wait until the smells are overwhelming you before you try these tips. Try at least one of them today and see if it works for you.
Here’s to a much better smelling kitchen in your home!
Come check me out over at my blog www.lazygeniusmom.com
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Tyler Johnson says
That’s good to know that nicer trash bags could help reduce the smell in your house. I would think that the scented ones would do an even better job. I’ll have to consider getting some of those.