Your refrigerator is one the most extensively used appliance in your house that does not even get a rest.
Furthermore, it is often tortured with various spills, odors, and piles of leftovers and useless moldy food bagged securely waiting to be thrown away.
Refrigerators will inevitably get a little messy – It’s time to reach for the cleaning cloth! Even if your fridge isn’t visibly dirty, we recommend that you clean it. After all, this is where you’re storing fresh food!
It is essential to clean your refrigerator on a regular basis. However, it is not as quick and easy as cleaning your microwave.
Before proceeding to clean your refrigerator, though, make sure you check the manufacturer’s instructions carefully.
Clean the inside of the refrigerator and the interior door with a damp cloth/sponge/towel and a mild detergent. Detergents, however, can leave behind a smell that your food is likely to absorb. Thus, prefer to use a solution of equal parts of white vinegar and warm water or a mixture of two tablespoons of baking soda and a quart of warm water.
For removing stubborn stains, consider using white toothpaste. Use a plastic non-abrasive scrubber to scrub the stains. Besides, you can place a warm wash cloth on stubborn stains and spills for a few minutes and then remove it to make it easier to wipe them off.
For cleaning the exterior of a stainless steel refrigerator, you can soak white vinegar in a microfiber cloth and rub it on the surface in the direction of the grain. To enhance the shine, you may put a few drops of olive oil on a clean piece of cloth and rub it on the exterior.
How to Remove Bad Odors from the Refrigerator
- To prevent and eliminate all sorts of odors circulating in your refrigerator, place a jar of bicarbonate of soda, open in your fridge. Alternatively, you can spread baking soda in a baking sheet and leave it in the refrigerator for some time.
- Spread fresh, dry coffee grounds on a few baking sheets and place them on different shelves within the refrigerator to remove the bad smells within a few days. The coffee trick can be used to eliminate bad odors from your microwave as well.
- Leaving a bowl of oats can help absorb the lingering food scents and odors naturally.
Additional Tips
- Do not use the same rag for cleaning the interior as well as the exterior of your refrigerator.
- It is suggested to clean your fridge about once a month.
- Check the food stored in the refrigerator at least every week to remove the rotten or waste items.
- Do wipe up the spills immediately, or else they would be hard to clean later.
- Similarly, wipe off the rims of ketchup bottles, jam jars, etc. before placing them in the refrigerator so that they do not leave marks on the shelves. Plus, food items that are likely to leak should be stored in bags or plates with rims.
- You need not clean the refrigerator completely every time; you can clean a few shelves at a time to reduce the burden.
- It is best to store leftover food in air-tight containers to avoid odors in the refrigerator.
- Store different types of food items in different areas and compartments within the refrigerator, depending on the amount of cooling they require.
- Do defrost your freezer and refrigerator regularly.
- Vacuum the refrigerator coils seasonally.
The best way for reducing bacteria in your refrigerator is by properly cleaning its components and maintaining proper storage conditions.
Contact our Residential Cleaning expert team can restored your dirty fridge to its formal glory and bacteria free!
