no exhust fan

[frogprincess]

so i live in a basement suite with a large kitchen which is attached to my living room/bed room and since there is no exhust fan in the kitchen everytime i cook my ben linens absorb the food odor.

there is a large window in the kitchen and a door which leads into a laundry room beside the stove.

i am open to suggestions on how i can gain control of this problem.

thanks.

[mtigges]

so i live in a basement suite with a large kitchen which is attached to my living room/bed room and since there is no exhust fan in the kitchen everytime i cook my ben linens absorb the food odor.

there is a large window in the kitchen and a door which leads into a laundry room beside the stove.

i am open to suggestions on how i can gain control of this problem.

thanks.

←

If the stove is against an outside wall I would ask the landlord to put one in. It's quite easy.

[lcdm]

That's a hard one even with an exhaust fan, bedding may still pick up odors if in the same room (depends what you cook). Can you install a nonvented circulating hood over your range, maybe something with a charcoal filter, or maybe an air purifier by the range? You could set up a fan in the window to exhaust the smell/smoke, but you'll also draw out some heat.

When my grandmother used to fry a bunch of onions and didn't want it to smell up the house she would fry them outside in an electric skillet.

[Megan Blocker]

That's funny - I have a similar situation. I live in a decent-sized studio apartment, but the (separate) kitchen isn't windowed, nor does it have an exhaust fan. Add to this the incredibly sensitive smoke detector, and you can't even bake cookies (let alone burn them - by accident, of course) without the alarm going off. I've dealt with this by clipping a small fan on the closet door just under the smoke detector, and turning it on whenever I cook.

As for the smell, I'm lucky enough to have my bedroom area at the farthest side of the studio from my kitchen...however, it will still stink up from time to time (though the bed linens are usually ok). Generally, if I'm worried about smoke or smell, I cook with the windows wide open, the fan going, and I light a pre-emptive candle in the living space (Williams-Sonoma's essential oil candles really do a good job of clearing out smells). If I'm cold, I just put on a sweater and suck it up till the food's done.

Edited January 4, 2006 by Megan Blocker (log)

[JohnL]

so i live in a basement suite with a large kitchen which is attached to my living room/bed room and since there is no exhust fan in the kitchen everytime i cook my ben linens absorb the food odor.

there is a large window in the kitchen and a door which leads into a laundry room beside the stove.

i am open to suggestions on how i can gain control of this problem.

thanks.

←

I once had a similar problem.

I got some "plastic" sheeting--basically the kind of stuff garbage bags are made out of and covered my bed whenever i cooked.

I also got a pretty powerful and (small) "Vornado" fan and opened up the window a bit with the fan pointing outward.--this seemed to work really well fo me.

[jsolomon]

At most hardware stores (Ace or True Value, not so much Maynard's or Home Deposit) you should be able to find a window fan that just snugs up into the window (different than a box fan). They work remarkably well as exhaust fans, and are only about $20.

[andiesenji]

This is not a cheap solution, but if you have a problem with any kind of odors, cooking, fire, etc.,

this air purification unit is the best for the job.

I used one when we had the brush fires and my house smelled like the inside of a barbecue.

One of my friends whose home was flooded in the rains last year, used one and it killed the horrible mildew odor.