How to Get Rid of Smell in Refrigerator and What to Check

Find the source before adding an absorber

If you’ve already wiped the shelves but still catch a smell when you open the door, we’d check for leaked food, dirty drawer channels and the door seal before adding an absorber. Those places need cleaning too, while baking soda earns its place after the refrigerator is thoroughly clean.

No rotten food in sight

Look through the food in both compartments, including containers that have become hard to see or reach. Throw away spoiled or moldy food, and check for leaking containers and food spills. Food odors, bacteria and mold are all possible contributors, so a forgotten item is only one place to look.

Pay particular attention to drips from meat, fish and poultry. Cleaning these spills helps reduce the risk of foodborne illness. Spoilage bacteria can grow even at refrigerator temperatures and eventually produce unpleasant tastes and smells.

Don’t use a normal smell or appearance as proof that food is safe, because harmful bacteria can be present without either warning. Remove spoiled food and clean contaminated surfaces; judging food safety after a power interruption is a separate decision.

If a crisper bin or shelf sticks, look for spilled food around it when you empty the cabinet. Heavy spillovers can need extra cleaning, and wiping the visible shelf surface can leave the drawer area and frame untouched.

Make room to clean safely

Find your refrigerator’s cleaning instructions before choosing a product. Different refrigerators have different limits, especially around the seals, and your model’s instructions take priority over general cleaning recipes.

Switch the refrigerator off and unplug it before cleaning. Remove all food and keep it in a cool place while you work; if you have an ice pack, place it on top of the food. Take out the removable shelves and drawers so you can reach the surfaces they cover.

Use soft cloths for the cabinet and hand-wash the removable parts. Keep refrigerator parts out of the dishwasher. Avoid solvent cleaners, abrasives and products that could leave a taste in food or ice or damage the interior.

Pick the cleaner that fits your refrigerator

Choose one cleaning method that fits your appliance. The soap and baking-soda approaches below have different instructions, so keep each recipe and its limits together.

On Whirlpool refrigerators, use warm water and mild dish soap with a soft cloth to clean spills and wipe the interior. The University of Wyoming Extension also permits mild soap and water for interior cleaning, subject to the appliance manufacturer’s instructions.

N.C. Cooperative Extension’s alternative is two teaspoons of baking soda mixed into one quart of warm water. Use it to wipe the inside completely. With this method, skip soap, detergent and harsh chemicals because they can leave an odor or residue.

For Bosch refrigerators, the Kuwait cleaning guidance uses a soft cloth, lukewarm water and a pH-neutral cleaning product on the cabinet. Its door-seal restriction is different from the cabinet method, so keep that cleaner off the seal.

Reach underneath drawers and into channels

Work across the exposed cabinet as well as the parts you removed. Include the drawers, the area underneath them, the sides and the inside of the door. These are part of the cleaning job even when the shelves look clean.

On a Whirlpool refrigerator, wash the drawer and shelf channels with warm, soapy water and rinse them thoroughly. Wipe the frame too, giving heavy spill residue the extra cleaning it needs. The channels deserve their own pass before the drawers hide them again.

Rinse the cleaned surfaces and removable parts, then dry them before reassembly. For Whirlpool’s channels, use a soft microfiber cloth and get them completely dry before sliding the shelves and drawers back in. Dry the other interior surfaces with a clean towel.

The door seal needs a separate approach

Give the gasket around the inside of the door its own cleaning pass. This seal helps keep air from escaping, and cleaning it can help remove and prevent odors. Match the cleaning liquid to your refrigerator’s instructions.

On Whirlpool refrigerators, wash the gasket with a clean sponge or soft cloth, mild detergent and warm water. Rinse it well, then wipe it dry with a clean, soft cloth.

Bosch’s Kuwait guidance requires clean water only on the door seal because cleaning products can erode its sensitive rubber. Wipe the seal and dry it thoroughly. Use the Bosch cleaning instructions (opens in a new tab) for that regional guidance, with your own model’s instructions taking priority.

The cabinet is clean but a smell remains

Once the cabinet and removable parts are thoroughly clean, put an open box of baking soda on a shelf to absorb remaining odors. You can do the same in the freezer. This is the point to add an absorber, after you’ve dealt with food residue and spills.

For a stubborn interior smell, a separate treatment is a wipe with equal parts white vinegar and water, where your appliance’s cleaning instructions allow it. Vinegar’s acidity acts against mildew. Keep this interior treatment separate from the manufacturer-specific seal methods above.

Recheck the odor after treatment. If it still smells, repeat one or more of the cleaning or deodorizing methods that fit your appliance. Some refrigerator odors are very difficult to remove, so improvement may take more than one round.

Give an empty refrigerator time to air out

For an emptied refrigerator with a lingering odor, including one that sat switched off with food inside, airing follows cleaning. Keep the appliance disconnected and food elsewhere during this treatment.

Whirlpool recommends leaving the door open for at least a day after cleaning the interior with baking soda. The University of Wyoming Extension recommends several days of airing after a baking-soda-and-water wash. Those are different intervals, so plan around the method you’re following rather than a fixed overnight wait.

You can keep the printable odor-removal instructions (opens in a new tab) handy for the longer airing method. At the end of the airing period, check whether the smell has improved before moving on to restocking.

Restock with temperature and visibility in mind

After cleaning and any airing treatment, reconnect the refrigerator and switch it on. Add safe food only once the appliance is clean and running.

Use thermometers designed for refrigerators and freezers to check their temperatures. N.C. Cooperative Extension recommends keeping the refrigerator at 40°F or below and the freezer as close to 0°F as possible. Keeping the refrigerator at the correct temperature helps prevent food from spoiling prematurely.

As you restock, keep food tightly wrapped or covered and arrange it so you can see and reach what you have. That makes forgotten food less likely. Clear out spoiled items and clean new spills immediately, before they become another cleaning job.

For routine Whirlpool care, clean both the refrigerator and freezer once a month. Between those cleanings, keep checking the food you’ve stored and deal with leaks as they appear.