How do you handle cooking odors in open layout home?

[tny915]

We just moved into this house a few months ago and everytime I cook something in the wall oven, the whole house smells for a day. The kitchen opens up to the dining and family room and is right by the stairs leading to the bedrooms, so the smells seep up to every room. I cooked some tri-tip last night and the edges got a little burned. We're still smelling burnt meat today, despite leaving all the windows open during cooking and for 4 hours after.

I've never had a wall oven before, I've always had ranges so the hood would take care of some of the cooking smells. The oven's on a different wall from all the windows and the cooktop hood.

Is there a way for me to keep the cooking odors from permeating the entire house?

[tarabenet]

I know this is controversial here, but we still swear by our Ionic Breeze for odor, dust and pollen control. If you do a search, you'll see several threads about them, including at least one fairly long and very critical thread. All I know is they work for us. We even take the wall-size one along on trips, to take care of those odd odors (dust, mildew smells) in hotel rooms. Normally it stays in our kitchen, to clear smoke when I burn the toast.

[EllasMum]

This won't prevent the smell from going to the other rooms, but once the smell is there, you can put a small dish of white vinegar in the kitchen and the cooking smell goes away very quickly. I also have an open floor plan (which I hate, but that's another thread!) and the vinegar works great in my place.

[maestramommy]

Ooo! I'll have to try that, it's a new one on me. What we do is, we put a fan in one of the kitchen windows while cooking and turn on the exhaust setting. It's a fan with accordian sides so specifically designed to fit in a window. Doesn't always work though, (esp. with typical Asian cooking :-).)

Have to give that vinegar a try!

[EllasMum]

Yep - try it. You don't need much. I put maybe a quarter of a cup of vinegar in a bowl and just left it on my counter and it cleared out a fairly strong smell of Shepherd's Pie (store bought sort of oniony) very quickly. Amazing stuff, vinegar!

[karolyp]

Thanks for the tip, I will HAVE to try that next time!!