Help~ To stop the cooking smell going to the living room

[BingBo]

We have the kitchen and the living room separated - kitchen in the front and loving room at the rear (I know it's very untraditional).

The exit of the kitchen leading up to the hall way is only 80cm. On one side it's the stair with the wall on the other side of the hallway.

I really hate the cooking smell spread all over the place. I will install a very good extractor fan. But still I want to install a door or something. But the builder said the 80cm is merely enough to install a narrow door, plus if we do so the usable opening will be too narrow to allow any big furniture go through because of the door frame.

I run out of idea in terms to keep the kitchen completely shut from the rest of the house without further narrowing the already very narrow kitchen exit.

Would love to have your suggestions to overcome this!

Don't you find opening the kitchen window improves it? I do...that plus putting a pan of boiling water with some orange peel and cinnamon in it. Simmer the water with the bits and bobs in there. Keep it on low for a while.

Put a barn door or pocket door in - they slide out of the way.

HappyPennyHorro, thanks for the advice. But sometimes I cook really spicy stuff, would be too much even if a fraction of it creeps into the living area where my little ones would be playing - or am I overthinking??

@BingBo do you make a lot of exotic dishes with spices? I will be able to advise you in about a month when our kitchen is done.

Here are the things I kept in mind:

1. powerful extractor for the size of the room which would cover as much of the cooking surface as possible

2. hard flooring throughout house so smells don't get embedded into carpet

3. open windows and turn extractor on a good few mins before starting cooking

4. don't burn spices

5. if all this fails , set up a second kitchen outside for the "smelly" cooking - this is what loads of my friends have done

wowfudge, thanks.

Pocket door would have been a perfect solution if Not our wall is just a thin layer of wooden wall. But I probably will still try to find out how thick it is.

Otherwise, on one side of the wall is stair and on the other side is the kitchen worktop. So no chance to put a barn door sliding to the side...

chopic, thank you!

No 4 is difficult though. Some spices need to meet the high heat oil to release the desired aroma.

I wish I could do the last option, but need to change to a new house, lol~ Currently one doesn't have the space.

Which extractor fan you are going for? I'm doing research at the moment. Eyeing at at least over 800m3/hr. Really pricey once getting to that level.

Sorry, I meant chopc.

I heard the best ones are Westin - in fact they had the best knowledge and were able to advise me comprehensively. In the end I went for 2 x Luxair 60cm Telescopic hoods. So will have a maximum flow rate of over 1600 between them plus we have a large vellum window as well as an exeternal door that we will open when possible.

In another month the kitchen should be in so can update after

chopc, Thank you for the tips! Never heard of this brand. Will look up now.

Over 1000m3/hr is truly impressive. I've seen nothing like that so far.

"But the builder said the 80cm is merely enough to install a narrow door, plus if we do so the usable opening will be too narrow to allow any big furniture go through because of the door frame."

i don't understand that.

A typical internal door is 762mm wide.

A door lining ("frame") adds about 20mm each side.

BTW when you are running an extractor, you must shut the doors and windows. Or it will not be able to create suction. The air being sucked out of the room is what prevents steam and odours diffusing through the house.

There are a number of Luxair models, I like a canopy extractor where it is built into a top-box resembling a high level cabinet, which matches your other wall cabinets. Ducts can if necessary be run along the wall above or inside your other high caninets.

Check the noise in db of the extractor you are looking at. I prefer one which runs lazily at low power with little noise but can be turned higher if you wish. A large fan running slowly is quieter than a small fan running fast.

You can also install a blower in any cabinet of your own design.

If you want a powerful commercial-kitchen type, it is an advantage to have the motor and blower on the outside of the house, fixed to the wall, with a duct running through the wall to vents above hobs. You may need an HVA specialist to design and install it.

I usually lke Elica but they have the disadvantage of being less expensive.

PigletJohn, thank you for the links! But I don't understand how could it be so cheap on this tlc website (£150 - £300)? The luxair models are all in the range of £700 - £1500 on their own website. Did I miss anything?

Is Simens any good at all? That was my focus before I got to know this Luxair brand.

But sometimes I cook really spicy stuff, would be too much even if a fraction of it creeps into the living area where my little ones would be playing - or am I overthinking??

You are overthinking! If you don't want smells in your living room fair enough, but they won't harm your children!

@BingBo

Well-known electrical wholesaler. Check that you are looking at the same model.

Have you ever walked into a bed shop? RRP £5,000, our price reduced to £250?

A Fray Bentos tinned pie is £2.50 in Tesco and £1 in Asda.

Nobody pays "list"

DustyDoorFrames, DS2 is only 3 months old. And occasionally, I can get "choked" by the coughes caused by my own cooking. Hence the worry.

Hi, *PigletJohn", thanks. I've not bought from tcl before. But will look up. Thank you!

If your littlest is just 3 months you should not be leaving him alone with his brother- certainly not behind a closed door. Unless his brother is actually a useful great teenager I guess!

You can fit a door, either plane it down a fair bit, or box it out into the room. 762mm door would need 820+ opening to account for clearance and packers but all doors can be adjusted and creative things can be done with the swing.
Regarding the spices the problem is the vaporised steam/oil mixture so basically you need to collect it as close to where it's produced as possible. We also do a lot of Chinese cooking and we just have a 200mm duct fan with industrial standard grease filter. But even with that there's a fine film of grease and dust on the nearest cupboard. The old kitchen had no extraction and a good door and the whole room was filthy on every surface within a short time.

Rereading your post i think a sliding door top hung might do. It wouldn't be a good seal like a normal frame, but it would provide some blocking of air movement and wouldn't obstruct the width.
You would still need a fan to keep the air current the right way