Given ideal ventilation, it would be difficult to smell much food odor, although diffusion of chemicals in air can be fairly fast. However, even the best ventilation used in a residential kitchen will not be ideal due to (a) disturbances to the rising effluent due to motion of people around the room, and (b) turbulent and/or directional make-up air flow to the cooking area creating cross drafts. Wall installation instead of island or peninsula installation will partially compensate for these effects.

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