The smells from cooking in your home can be overpowering and make it difficult to enjoy your favorite meal. They can linger in the air for hours, or even days.

We've all been there. You're cooking a delicious meal for your family or friends when suddenly you realize that the cooking smells are really strong and are going to linger. Whether it is garlic or onions, fish or meat - the things we love to eat can make our homes smell like them too!

At the end of the day, you want your home to be a nice place for everyone to relax and enjoy your delicious food, but the cooking smells just won't go away.

Get a Professional Range Hood

A professional range hood is the best way to remove pesky cooking smells from your kitchen. Not only can you turn it on at the push of a button, but the hood will offer much more efficient ventilation than opening windows.Hoods mount directly above the stovetop, the main source of smoke, contaminants, and odors. So, the vast majority of smells, grease, and cooking exhaust will be vented outside your home.To remove cooking smells most efficiently, we recommend ducting your hood to the outside. A ductless range hood will neutralize some odors and contaminants, but not as much as ducted hoods.

Open windows and doors when cooking

This is the easiest way to get rid of cooking smells in your kitchen. Anyone can do it! But it will be a hassle to open a bunch of windows and doors every time it gets smoky in your kitchen. That's why we recommend a range hood, but opening doors can help too.To improve ventilation, make sure to open windows before you start cooking. Then you can minimize the amount of smoke and odors that build as you cook.

Take out your trash

It might seem obvious, but the trash can have a pretty unbearable smell if it's left out too long. Old food in your trash can have an intense odor that gets worse the longer it sits in your kitchen. Just take it out regularly and see if the smell improves.

Clean your stove, microwave, toaster oven, counters, and floors

Before you spend a pretty penny on air fresheners and other deodorizing products, make sure to clean your kitchen thoroughly. This includes your stove, microwave, toaster oven, and other appliances. You'll also want to wipe down your counters and floors.Stuck food or spills will start to smell if left unattended, so it's important to keep your kitchen squeaky clean.If you are going to clean anything, start with the stove and the oven. That way you won't have to worry about baked-on stains or tough grease that prevents you from cooking comfortably. In general, start with the appliances or areas of your kitchen that you use the most.

Run and empty your dishwasher

One appliance that often gets overlooked is your dishwasher. When you load your dishwasher, be sure to run it the same day it's loaded. This will make it much easier to manage the strong smells in your kitchen.

If left for too long, dishes in your dishwasher will 1) be much more difficult to clean and 2) start to smell up the whole kitchen.

The baked-on food will harden and start to get old and gross. You don't want that! I like to run my dishwasher in the late evening and unload it in the morning. That way I can load dishes all day as I eat meals. Then at the end of the day, the dishwasher gets full and I can run it.But do what works for you. If you use more dishes or cook quite often, you might need to run a couple of loads. To save space in your dishwasher, hand wash the big pans. Then you'll be able to fit more in your dishwasher and turn keep your kitchen smelling fresh.

Set a bowl of vinegar out on your stove overnight

Now for a few DIY strategies. If the above techniques don't work for you, place a bowl of white vinegar out on your stove overnight. About two cups work just fine.If you just use a couple of cups, this will keep the vinegar smell down. After 24 hours most of your cooking smells and the vinegar should dissipate.Leave a bowl of coffee grounds on your stovetop or counter overnight.

Another DIY solution is to use coffee grounds. Coffee grounds contain 2% nitrogen which helps neutralize cooking odors. All you need to do is leave a bowl of them out or a baking sheet with a thin layer of coffee grounds.Let it sit out for an entire day and you should see results. Start with overnight and then keep them out if you still have some lingering food smells.Simmer lemon and cinnamon sticks in water on your stove.A third DIY solution is simmering lemon and cinnamon sticks in water. Lemons have a strong citrus odor that will neutralize just about any smell. Fill a saucepan or large pot with water and toss a few lemon slices in there. Then bring the water to a boil and turn it back to low heat. Add cinnamon sticks to help neutralize the odors more effectively.The longer you leave this DIY mixture on the stove, the more water you'll want in the pot. You don't want it to evaporate. That's why a large pot like the ones you use to boil water for spaghetti is useful here.Just the lemon peels would work, too. But you can just throw the entire lemon slices in there too.

Leave out a bowl of baking soda overnight

By now you know that coffee grounds and vinegar do the trick when it comes to eliminating cooking odors. If you are looking for another alternative, give baking soda a shot. It naturally neutralizes the odors of any food in your home from strong bases to strong acids. The best part is, instead of masking the smell, it absorbs the odors. So baking soda is incredibly effective at deodorizing your air.

Store and seal your food tightly

Be sure to store and seal your food in airtight bags and containers. Leaving a bunch of food out can result in an unpleasant mixture of all kinds of smells. You don't want these lingering in your kitchen. None of these strategies will do you much good if you don't eliminate the source of the pungent cooking odors. Often that can be old food. Keep in mind that it may not be in your fridge and freezer. You might also find moldy bread in your cabinets or pantry. This can be especially nasty if it comes into contact with moisture.

So, if you're struggling to keep cooking smells at bay, do a thorough check through all your cabinets, your fridge, and the freezer. This way you can kill two birds with one stone: throw out old food and organize everything else too!

Invest in an air purifier

If you still need to tackle pesky cooking odors by now, then try an air purifier. You can find high-quality air purifiers today that feature activated carbon filters to eliminate strong cooking odors. Make sure the air purifier has a carbon filter, though. If it doesn't, it won't be effective at removing cooking smells. Learn more about how air purifiers eliminate odor here.

Clean your sink and garbage disposal

The sink and garbage disposal are often one of the most neglected areas of your kitchen. Sure, you may clean the stove or microwave every week, or maybe sweep the floors. But not many people take the time to clean out the sink.Every time you wash food off your dishes or rinse something in the sink, you'll leave behind some food particles. This can smell pretty repulsive over time if you don't clean your sink properly.All you have to do is scrub the sink with dish soap and water and make sure all the food particles are down the drain.If you use the garbage disposal often, food particles may slowly build up there too. You can toss a half lemon into your disposal and then run it for a quick clean.