How Do I Stop Condensation in My Kitchen?

After the bathroom, the kitchen is where most household moisture comes from. Boiling pans, the kettle, the dishwasher opening at the end of a cycle, and in a lot of houses the washing machine and the washing drying on the airer as well. If that moisture isn’t removed at source, it spreads through the house and ends up as mould somewhere cold, often in an upstairs bedroom.

Get the extraction right

• A cooker hood is only really extracting if it’s ducted to outside. Many hoods are recirculating: they filter grease and smells but blow the moisture straight back into the room. If yours doesn’t have a duct going through the wall or ceiling, it isn’t removing the steam.
• Use the hood or kitchen extractor fan every time you cook, on a decent speed, and leave it running for a while afterwards.
• If there’s no extract at all, a wall or window fan ducted outside is a sensible upgrade. Where there’s no easy route out, there are options such as fitting a fan through a door light.

Simple habits

• Lids on pans, and turn the heat down once they’re boiling.
• Keep the kitchen door shut when you’re cooking, so the moisture goes out through the fan rather than up the stairs.
• Open a window for a few minutes after cooking.
• Wipe condensation off the windows and sills.
• If you have a tumble dryer, make sure it’s either vented properly to outside or a condensing or heat pump type that’s emptied regularly.

Watch for mould behind and inside wall units on outside walls, at the back of cupboards and behind the fridge. Those are cold, still-air spots. Leaving a small gap behind appliances and not packing cupboards against cold walls helps.

And as always, rule out leaks. A damp patch at low level behind the sink, dishwasher or washing machine is far more likely to be a leaking waste or supply pipe than condensation or rising damp. Check under the sink and behind the appliances before assuming anything else.

If you’ve had a kitchen extension, it’s also worth checking whether it blocked the air bricks to the original suspended floor, which can cause damp and musty smells in the next room.