Kitchen Odors and Grease
If you're struggling with long-lasting kitchen odors and you've tried everything, above the cabinets is a great place to check next. It's easy to remember other spots-- behind the trash can, inside the trash can, behind and inside of the fridge, the pantry, scrubbing the floors. But even a well-ventilated kitchen can build up a greasy film. Why?
When cooking oils are heated, they undergo a number of chemical changes. The way oil bubbles when heated looks like water when it boils because the oil is boiling: it just has a much higher boiling point than water.
Boiling produces vapors, tiny bits of liquids and solids that get thrown up into the air. These vapors consist of "aerosol oil droplets, combustion products, organic gaseous pollutants, and steam from the water contents of the food being cooked." (Source cited at the end of this article). These vapors then produce fumes: even smaller, submicron-sized particles created when the vaporized oil cools in the air.
All of these different sized droplets settle on your surfaces, where the sticky oil can attract and then trap dust, hair, dander, and even more odors.
If doing it yourself is your jam, we recommend Krud Kutter as it is biodegradable, non-toxic, and very effective against kitchen oils. Spray the surface and let it sit, then use a plastic putty knife to gently scrape the ooze into a trash bag. The rest should wipe clean without much elbow grease.
If scraping ooze isn't for you, well, we can't blame you. Existing residential clients can add this on to their regularly scheduled cleans. Please call the office for details.
Source: IARC Working Group on the Evaluation of Carcinogenic Risks to Humans. Household Use of Solid Fuels and High-temperature Frying. Lyon (FR): International Agency for Research on Cancer; 2010. (IARC Monographs on the Evaluation of Carcinogenic Risks to Humans, No. 95.) Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK385523/
Amber Starling
IICRC Certified Master Textile Cleaner
Founder, Good Witch Cleaning Services