Smelly Kitchen

January 6, 2007 5:48 AM

I live in an apartment and when I cook (indian food) the whole place reeks of exotic spices. Does anyone know of an airpurifier that will filter out the offensive odor. I do not have a outside vent in my kitchen.
posted by Noodles to Home & Garden (9 answers total)

My husband and I use a Holmes air purifier in our apartment to filter allergens, and it does make a difference with odors too.

For a chaper alternative, I have an Oust air freshener in my office. It's a little thing that has a fan and runs on a D-cell battery. I got it at the grocery store for around seven bucks. Not only does it filter and cover the odor of the onions in my lunchtime salads, it also filters and covers the odor of my high school students, which, especially after gym class, is no small feat.

Good luck!
posted by christinetheslp at 5:58 AM on January 6, 2007

The key to removing odor is "activated charcoal" as used in this type of air purfier. The charcoal element requires regular replacement.
posted by Fins at 7:13 AM on January 6, 2007

Quick fix: boil some water with white vinegar added while you're cooking. Not great if you dislike vinegar. But.
posted by kmennie at 7:16 AM on January 6, 2007

Best answer: Maybe something like this volcanic deodorizer would work for you. I have found them to be effective in removing the smell of cigarette smoke, and I can't see why they wouldn't remove food odours as well. I'm guessing it wouldn't be as fast as the activated carbon one that Fins linked to, but it's cheap, and is supposed to last forever.
posted by benign at 8:50 AM on January 6, 2007 [1 favorite]

The only air purifier I've ever owned (and I've owned a few) that was any good at all was the IQ Air I finally, reluctantly, ended up purchasing a few months ago. Yes, they're pricey. But I probably spent as much on changing and upgrading more crappily designed purifiers than if I'd just bit the bullet initially and got the best.

The IQ Air has three levels of purification: a standard HEPA filter, activated charcoal, and a pair of chemisorbtion filters that filter out volatile organic compounds and other noxious gasses. Online review of the leading air purifiers (IQ Air is their top pick as well.)
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 10:25 AM on January 6, 2007

While cooking, leave a cup of white vinegar out and leave it for several hours after you're done in the kitchen. Helps to minimize cooking smells all around ... I tried this recently with fish and also when frying with oil, worked so well that I ended up noticing the smell in the back hall outside the kitchen (we had the door open for a while) so much so that I put another cup out there, too
posted by kuppajava at 10:31 AM on January 6, 2007

buy a grill?
posted by sindas at 1:16 PM on January 6, 2007

Slice up a lemon, boil with a handful of cloves.
posted by rhapsodie at 1:39 PM on January 6, 2007

When you say "the whole place reeks" I assume you realize that the entire building does, not just your apartment -- which will have to be bleached, repainted and recarpeted when you move.

Holmes? Oust? Vinegar? Bwahahahaaaa...

Nothing will help. Nothing can scrub the noxious, oily, curried offgassing of Indian cooking out of the air faster than you're generating it. It seeps everywhere, through doorjambs and electrical sockets, penetrating walls and floors like WD40 penetrates rusted hinges. Your neighbors hate you and cry themselves to sleep at night with Vicks Vaporub up their noses. Their own furniture, clothing and even the linens in their hall closet smell like your dinner. Please stop.
posted by Tubes at 2:29 PM on January 8, 2007 [1 favorite]