The kitchen is supposed to be a cozy and comfy spot in your house. A comfortable kitchen with good air quality must have a great arrangement of stovetops and cabinets during decoration or renovation. However, not all kitchens will work as you wish. Research proves that the kitchen has become the hub for stale smells, various kinds of emissions, and oily air.
Why must We Improve the Air Quality in the Kitchen?
The kitchen air is not good, mainly caused by the volatilization of oily smoke, spicy flavor, mildew of food, heat and moisture build-up and bad kitchen ventilation, etc. Not only does it destroy the atmosphere of your kitchen, but also strongly irritates the mucous membranes of the nose, eyes, and throat, and causes respiratory diseases such as rhinitis, pharyngitis, and tracheitis. Long-term inhalation of such bad air can also cause asthma to worsen, thereby increasing the risk of lung cancer.
How to Improve Air Quality in Your Kitchen?
Being mindful of the fact that the kitchen is the most visited place of the house, the above-mentioned health concerns call for certain measures to improve kitchen ventilation. This is important so that you can breathe healthier air and drop the levels of toxic emissions in your kitchen.
For this purpose, we have gathered up some of the most effective methods that you can employ to reduce these toxic emissions by more than half. So, what’s that wait for? Let’s get straight to the point:
1. Use qualified gas appliance to have complete combustion of fuel
According to research funded by the Department of Energy, gas stovetops generate pollutants to the point of illegal levels especially carbon monoxide, and electric stovetops produce a toxic combustion by-product called nitrogen dioxide. Both of these toxic gases can be proved to cause symptoms such as loss of appetite, upset, lack of energy, lethargy, and fatigue. Moreover, benzene can even cause cancer. The gas released by various chemical products can do harm to the skin and human sensory organs.
Use qualified gas appliances and replenish fresh air in the kitchen to ensure that the fuel is fully burned, thereby reducing harmful gases and heat build-up in the air.
2. Use range hoods to improve kitchen ventilation.
A range hood is a hero that helps mitigate all three problems at once – eliminates smelly odors, catches grease-causing particles, and traps toxic emissions. Although range hoods are one of the most effective products out there to improve kitchen ventilation, they must be used in combination with other ventilation boosting measures since even the best ones are efficient to the point of removing only 15% of solid particles.
Also, range hoods require maintenance to function efficiently in the long run. The maintenance is crucial at least once a year and more if it is in heavy use and involves replacing disposable filters. You don’t have to replace the metal mesh and baffle ones, just clean them with a toothbrush and dish soap. However, if they are punctured or corroded, an immediate replacement should be carried out.
3. Use a splatter screen to avoid oil fume when cooking.
We know installing a range hood in your kitchen might be a little heavy on your pocket, so here we are with another very effective but affordable option – a splatter screen. This product significantly reduces grease-causing particles and absorbs bad odors into its carbon lining. It maintains the kitchen’s air quality at a low cost and does not need any extra space. Hence, if you have a small kitchen, it is probably the best option for you. Moreover, the best part is that it is super easy to clean. All you need is your dishwashing liquid and a sponge!
4. Use exhaust fans or box fans to move out the bad air.
Exhaust fans or box fans are a must-have if you do not have a range hood installed in your kitchen. Exhaust fans require some customization and must be permanently fixed in the wall, but they come with the advantage of getting switched on by just a tap on the switchboard. On the other hand, window box fans must be put in the window each time they are needed, and the gaps on its sides must be filled up by gap-stopping solutions.
Moreover, there are other varieties available in the market too. For example, box fans with a reversible airflow that can throw in fresh air into the kitchen and oscillating fans with an ionizer filter. However, a standard box fan or exhaust fan can always do the trick if their blade movement is positioned. It brings in fresh air into the kitchen while throwing the musty air out simultaneously.
5. Use an air purifier to improve kitchen air quality.
An air purifier is the most promising product in the market for air quality improvement. When it is used in combination with a range hood – they leave no stone unturned to remove every inch of toxic emissions from your kitchen.
Although air purifiers are expensive, they are the best investment for your health, especially if you own gas stovetops. Moreover, air purifiers with HEPA filters have the capability to remove 99.7% of particles in the air. It is best to get this one if you suffer from respiratory or cardiovascular issues. However, before buying an air purifier, please make sure you choose the right specification for your kitchen size. So it is not overburdened and can perform well.
Although all these products mentioned above can really help mitigate the problem of polluted kitchen air, they do require an investment that can prove to be heavy on the pocket, especially if you have no extra budget for this purpose. Well, we got you covered here too! Here are a few tips for you to improve kitchen ventilation with absolutely zero investment:
Hacks to Improve Kitchen Ventilation that Requires No Money
6. Reduce food and dishes that are prone to oily smoke.
Develop healthy and scientific cooking habits. Do not heat the oil to smoke when cooking. Reduce deep-frying food that produces more oily smoke. The higher the oil temperature, the more oil fume, and harmful ingredients will be produced.
7. Use refined oil with a high smoke point for cooking.
Cooking with refined oil can reduce the oil fume, such as sunflower oil, refined avocado oil, sesame oil, peanut oil. Avoid heating unrefined oils that have low smoke points, such as walnut oil, flaxseed oil, etc. Low smoke points oil can be used in salad, which doesn’t need to be heated.
8. Maintain good hygiene in the kitchen.
Clean up kitchen garbage in time after cooking. Declutter the useless and waste regularly. Try to use eco-friendly cleaning products.
9. Open windows
Windows are your best friend if you are looking forward to improving your kitchen air quality without investing any money. However, it is still important to use your common sense and be a little technical! Whether you have windows in your kitchen or anywhere else in the house, these tips can save your life!
The whole point is to create a passage by using a combination of windows, interior doors, and exterior doors in a way that fresh air enters the house, passes through the kitchen, and then leaves the house while taking all the stagnant kitchen air along.
Apart from this, you can also utilize the fan of the nearest room to your kitchen. When you turn the fan on, it will generate a force to push the air and move out all the stagnant kitchen air along its way out of the house. In addition to this, if you have a portable fan lying somewhere in the house, put it in the kitchen door facing outwards. In this way, it will suck out toxic air from the kitchen.
