How to get rid of refrigerator smells

You expect your refrigerator to keep foods fresh. What you don’t expect is to get a whiff of bad odors when you open the fridge door. Fridge smells can quickly ruin your appetite.

Because air circulates through the refrigerator and freezer in many fridges, bad smells from the refrigerator section often migrate to the freezer. To make matters worse, odors that migrate to the freezer can contaminate stored ice cubes so ice smells and tastes funny.

You’ll want to take action quickly to eliminate bad odors in your fridge.

Why does my fridge smell bad?

Interior fridge odors

Strong-smelling foods that aren’t wrapped tightly with cellophane wrap can cause your fridge to smell funky. Spoiled foods stored inside your fridge will emit disgusting odors. Spills can also cause odors in your fridge.

To help prevent fridge odors, keep an eye on food expiration dates and throw out old food quickly. Check your fridge weekly for foods that need disposing. Wipe up spills quickly when they occur to help prevent unsavory odors from forming inside your refrigerator.

If something started smelling bad in your refrigerator and you threw it out but the odor lingers, the ice cubes in your freezer may have absorbed the odor. Smelly ice cubes can be an elusive source of refrigerator odors.

Exterior refrigerator odors

If a bad smell is constantly emanating from your fridge when its doors are shut, then the odor may be coming from the defrost drip pan. The automatic defrost cycle periodically melts frost off the evaporator coils and water from the melted frost drips down a tube to the defrost drain pan. Mold or mildew can sometimes form in the defrost drain pan and cause a musty odor. Bugs or rodents have even been found to have made their way into the defrost drain pan and cause horrible odors. Check the defrost drain pan when mysterious odors constantly waft out of your refrigerator.

Understanding these sources of refrigerator smells can help you prevent them from developing and lingering.

How can I get rid of a bad smell in my fridge?

When bad odors develop in your refrigerator, you’ll want to eliminate them quickly. Sometimes it will take a while for the smells to go away so you’ll want to start curing your fridge of bad smells as soon as you detect them.

Getting rid of interior fridge odors

Baking soda and coffee grounds absorb odors well. Fill an open container with a cup of coffee grounds and leave it in the refrigerator or set an open box of baking soda in the refrigerator to absorb smells.

Follow these steps to clean spills and deodorize your refrigerator:

1. Fill a bucket with one gallon of water. Warm water will work best even though the water will cool off quickly once you begin using it to wipe down interior refrigerator shelves and surfaces.

2. Add dish soap to the gallon of water to make a soapy water solution. You can also use white vinegar instead of using dish soap.

3. Unplug the refrigerator or turn it off while cleaning.

4. Soak a wash cloth in the bucket of cleaning solution then wring most of the cleaning solution out so the cloth stays wet but doesn’t drip. Wipe spills out of the refrigerator. Rinse and wring out the wash cloth as needed to thoroughly clean spills. Dispose of the cleaning solution and refill the bucket with fresh cleaning solution if the water gets too dirty during cleaning.

5. After cleaning out all spills, fill the bucket with fresh cleaning solution then wipe down all surfaces inside the refrigerator with the wash cloth moistened in the fresh cleaning solution.

6. Dispose of the cleaning solution and fill the bucket with plain water. Wipe down all interior refrigerator shelves and surfaces with the plain water to remove cleaning solution residue.

7. Dry all surfaces with a clean towel.

8. Plug the refrigerator back in or turn it back on.

You can either remove all items from the refrigerator while cleaning or safely store them in an ice chest while cleaning the fridge.

Thoroughly cleaning the fridge should help eliminate odors.

Eliminating exterior refrigerator odors

Most of the time, the source of exterior refrigerator odor comes from the defrost drain pan. Unplug the refrigerator and pull it out to access the defrost drain pan and the bottom of the cabinet. Remove the bottom back panel. Wipe up any spills on the floor under the refrigerator. Wipe out the defrost drain pan. Put on protective gloves and wipe out the drain pan using a bleach and water solution if you see mold or mildew in the pan.

To help water evaporate from the defrost drain pan and avoid mold or mildew from returning to that area, clean the condenser coils using a coil brush and vacuum cleaner. By design, air circulated through the condenser coils and across the drain pan by the condenser fan should evaporate water from the pan between defrost cycles. Cleaning the condenser coils will make sure that the drain pan gets adequate air flow to evaporate water between defrost cycles.

Prevention is the best cure for refrigerator odors.

When an item starts growing mold or turning unusual colors, don’t leave it in the fridge until trash pick-up day. Throw out spoiled items right away. Check the refrigerator weekly for expired or spoiled foods and trash them immediately when discovered. Also, tightly wrap all foods with cellophane or store them in closed containers—especially aromatic foods with seasonings such as garlic.

Also, schedule annual maintenance checks for your refrigerator to keep it operating in top condition. That will help you avoid external smells due to inadequate air flow across the defrost drain pan. Keeping your refrigerator well maintained will also help it last longer.