Why Your Clean Kitchen Smells Bad & The Common Household Ingredient That Can Help

Cleaning your kitchen regularly is essential to maintaining a hygienic environment and keeping the cooking space looking its best. However, despite your best efforts, you might notice that your seemingly clean kitchen still smells funny. This is because you most likely overlook giving the walls a deep clean, although you regularly wipe down the countertops, appliances, stovetops, and cabinets. Though the walls might seem clean enough, accidental food splatters, accumulated grease, dirt, and dust can dull their surface over time and make your kitchen smell bad. Luckily, a common household ingredient – baking soda – can come to your aid and remove the foul odors.

Being naturally abrasive and an excellent deodorizer, baking soda will clean your kitchen walls and remove the foul smells. So, don't be fooled if your walls appear clean, as they might still be harboring grease stains. Left untreated, the smell from the stains can go from bad to worse. A good rule of thumb is to clean any splatters instantly to prevent them from adhering to the surrounding walls.

A little prep goes a long way to a regular kitchen wall cleaning routine. The first step in cleaning your kitchen walls is the removal of the accumulated dirt, debris, and dust. This will help you clean the walls with your baking soda mixture without too much scrubbing. But first things first. Lay an old cloth directly underneath the wall you're cleaning to prevent dirtying your kitchen floor and increasing your workload. Now, remove any wall-mounted fixtures to ensure the entire surface gets cleaned. Don't forget to put on a pair of gloves and a face mask (if you're allergic to the dust).

Next, grab your trusty vacuum cleaner and affix the brush attachment to it. Vacuum any dust and food particles from the walls. In case you don't have an attachment handy, get a broom and wrap a clean cloth (like a towel) around its bristles. Now, use the DIY cleaning apparatus to dust the walls. Take care to move in a downward motion. Once the wall is as clean as possible, it's time to concoct a baking soda and water solution.

Prepare a cleaning solution for your kitchen walls by mixing a bucket of warm water with ½ cup of baking soda. Once the solution is ready, dip in a cloth or soft sponge, wring out the excess water, and gently rub the cloth against the dirty, smelly wall. This will remove all traces of leftover food and freshen up your kitchen. For more stubborn stains, make a paste out of ½ cup of baking soda and ¼ cup of warm water, apply it to the stain, and let it sit for a few minutes before scrubbing the wall clean.

However, conduct a patch test before you use the DIY cleaning solution on your kitchen walls since the type of paint on them determines if they're a good candidate for washing or not. For instance, matte and eggshell latex don't take well to washing and scrubbing, whereas gloss, semi-gloss, and high-gloss paints are fair game. After the walls are clean, dampen a clean cloth with warm water and rub it against the surface to remove the residual solution, dirt, and grease. Finally, use a dry cloth to wipe the walls dry.