Air carrier Flight Attendant notified the Captain of a 'burning; smoke-like odor' shortly after takeoff. After troubleshooting with negative results the Captain executed a precautionary return to departure airport where a safe landing was made.

Narrative

Shortly after takeoff I noticed a burning; smoke-like odor. I asked FA (Flight Attendant) 3 if she smelled something and she confirmed. As I was reaching for the interphone to call the Captain to report the odor; my phone rang and it was the FAs in the back asking me if we smelled anything. I then phoned the captain to report all flight attendants detecting an unusual burning odor. FA3 got up to inspect my galley. My ovens were turned off and had not been used at all. She opened the ovens to smell them and did not find anything abnormal. I asked her to check my coffee makers to see if a burner was on and they were both turned off as well. The Captain told me he also smelled something; but thought I was cooking. The Captain asked to have a flight attendant discreetly take shoes off and walk down the aisle to feel for heat. No heat was detected. I believe at this point that passengers were starting to ask about the burning smell. I turned off the power ports. FA3 also brought the fire containment bag to the forward galley to have ready in case it was determined the smell was coming from a passenger's device. The Captain told me that they were not getting any indications up front to be concerned about; but that we were going to go back to ZZZ in the interest of safety and we would be making a precautionary landing. The smell had dissipated slightly; but I continued to observe the burning odor. Passengers remained calm and we landed in ZZZ without incident. We deplaned and took another aircraft to ZZZZ.I later learned from the flight deck that Maintenance had believed the source to be from the ovens. I do not believe this to be the case; as my ovens were never turned on.