Our family has asthma issues and a not-so-great exhaust fan over the stove. The best solution would be a downdraft stove, better venting, and a better hood. But until we set aside the gobs of money to fix the situation, we have found a few amendments. One is grapeseed oil. Up until now, we had used olive oil as our base for browning onions. Healthy, right? Not if you smoke up the house and inhale the stuff!
Grapeseed oil has similar health benefits and a higher smoke point so we can brown onions in it, grease the griddle for pancakes, and do all the normal oil activities without making us all wheeze!
Carapelli is one of the excellent brands. A bottle lasts us for months because we do not do a lot of deep frying, and so on.
Another great addition was the Le Creuset 5 quart pot. Ah, I could wax with joy over this. I had wanted it for years. For our 20th anniversary, we bought ourselves this soup pot. Yes, we are that romantic. 
In the 2 months we have had this, I have cooked some of the best soups and stocks of my life. A really good pot/pan can make the difference between browning and burning. These pots are heavy and last forever and they evenly heat food. Great!