Stale smell in kitchen

[Fiddlesticksand]

There's a very stale smell in my kitchen and I just can't work out where it's coming from. I suspect it may be the range cooker which is 16 years old or maybe the extractor hood. Is this feasible? They're both clean but I wonder really how clean they can be given their age. Should I be getting a new cooker anyway given how old it is? Any other suggestions of what to consider - it's definitely not the drains, it's much more of an "old" smell iyswim.

Have you taken your dishwasher apart recently? Cleaned out the filter and the spraying arms ? Cleaned around the salt reservoir? Stale fat can smell like that.

It was precisely this type of smell that made me realise the air fryer needed a deep clean.

That said, I do wonder how effective cooker hoods are these days. Mine really doesn’t appear to do anything ( even when inserts are replaced) other than make a loud noise.

Is it old as in musty? Could it be damp somewhere? My extension roof was leaking and the roof boards were rotting. Before we got it fixed I used to liken the smell to an old bingo hall!

Just to add, my range cooker is of a similar age and we don't even use the extractor, but mine doesn't smell.

I assume you're ventilating properly, shutting the door to other rooms and opening a window when you cook?

Rats or mice

Is that to me? If so, yes, windows open. The extractor is very old and noisy hence I don't like using it. Never had any issues.

You tend to hear those before you smell them, unless one dies. Then it's a god awful smell rather than a stale one!

@CellophaneFlower Sorry, I meant the OP. But more people should do this, IMO. I can't understand it when people let cooking smells permeate their houses.

Definitely. I guess you don't notice when it's your own smells. My adjoining neighbour cooks a particularly smelly dish that somehow gets through the wall and stinks out the fitted cupboard in my son's room. I can always tell if he's left his cupboard door open!

A lot of extractor hoods have a material grease filter, have you changed those?

Although sometimes it is a re-usable metal mesh which you can clean in a dish washer.

I would check that and clean the inside of the extractor hood (horrible greasy job!)

@CellophaneFlower that's what I'm really worried about to be honest. The dishwasher is relatively new and we clean the extractor filters regularly in the dishwasher. We'll look closer at the extractor though. We live overseas at the moment and are preparing the house for when we come home so I have been there a lot in the past year and every time I'm there, the smell bothers me. It's nowhere else in the house. My parents are living there but don't notice it. We had a tenant a few years ago who was less than hygienic and I know had a washing machine and dishwasher leak as well as mice...I'm going to have to rip the whole thing out aren't I? I suppose blaming the range cooker is clutching at straws...sorry if this looks like a drip feed it's more denial!!

Pull everything out and clean up underneath

Oh it will be the mice, then (past or present). @Threee called it.

Honestly, don't panic. If it is damp/ a leak, it might be easier to find than you think. If there are no signs of a leak anywhere above, just start checking the easier to access things first, under the sink etc. Then you can start pulling out appliances. Perhaps if you can go straight in and start sniffing you might be able to locate where the smell is stronger (before your nose just smells it everywhere!)?

I had a similar smell in my kitchen and I borrowed someone's ozone generator. Really helped!

Mice. We're having the same problem. House was empty before we bought it. We've had pest control round twice so assume there a dead one under the floorboards now... they're coming out again this week as we just can't get rid. New flooring being placed in a fortnight but we can't afford to rip the whole kitchen out for a few years 😟

Potato? Whenever we get a weird smell it's a potato that has some how rolled somewhere!

Could it be coming from your sink drain? We definitely have an issue with ours - it drains fine but often smells awful when you first run hot water down or when the washing machine is spinning.
Ours has been smelling on and off for years and when we had our patio done we had all the drains checked and they were fine. I now use a drain cleaner every so often which definitely helps

Have a look round for mould.

I'm going to get a torch and take a good look under the kitchen cabinets. And on top of them Not looking forward to that. And it's time for a new cooker and maybe kitchen anyway....need to track the smell down before any money is spent though. Thanks for all the suggestions, they've been really helpful. Here's hoping it's a potato :)

Hopefully not a half eaten potato 😱

good luck!