BergKoch Splatter Screen for Frying Pan - 13 Inch Stainless Steel Grease Splatter Guard - Cover Oil Splash when Sizzling Bacon, Cooking Fried Chicken or Popcorn

A splatter screen is a round sheet of fine stainless mesh with a handle. You lay it over the frying pan. Steam goes through and most of the spitting oil doesn't. BergKoch's is 13 inches across, rests on the handles of your cookware, and says it stops 99% of splatter (that's the manufacturer's figure, not ours).

Why it matters for smell

When you fry, small oil droplets fly off the pan and land on the stovetop, the backsplash, the cabinets and anything soft nearby. That film of grease keeps giving off smell long after you've eaten. Fewer droplets leaving the pan means less residue to smell and less to clean. The listing calls this out too: it "helps reduce kitchen odor."

This matters most with fish. The oil from frying fish is the stuff that clings to curtains and cushions, as our fish smell guide explains.

Details

• 13-inch diameter, fits most pots, pans and skillets.
• Heavy-duty stainless steel with an extra-fine mesh. BergKoch says it stays rust-free.
• Dishwasher safe.
• Unlike a solid lid, it lets steam escape, so food fries instead of steaming.

BergKoch suggests taking the pan off the heat before you lift the screen to flip or stir. Fair advice, as that's when the oil spits hardest.

Who should skip it

If you rarely fry, you won't get much out of it. It does nothing for smells from simmering, roasting or burned toast. And it doesn't replace a range hood: vapor and smoke still go straight through the mesh. Run the hood from before you start cooking until a while after. Our main cooking smells guide covers that routine.

How it compares

A regular pan lid blocks splatter completely but traps steam, so fried food goes soggy. Use the screen for frying and the lid for simmering.

Zero Odor spray deals with smell after it has settled into fabrics, while the screen cuts how much grease gets there in the first place. At about $10, the screen is the cheaper place to start.

It has 4.6 stars from more than 43,000 Amazon reviews. For other low-cost fixes, see why your house smells after cooking and our best kitchen odor eliminators.