Last week I shared about the benefits of a clean fridge–but how exactly does one achieve a sparkling, sanitized refrigerator?
When we were fresh out of college and moving frequently between apartments, I rarely cleaned our fridge (save to wipe down spills) because I wasn’t sure how to do it. Some people say you should use vinegar, or bleach, or dish soap? Are any of those too abrasive? Do you need a specialized cleaner? Do you need to take everything out or is spray-and-wiping enough? How often should you be doing all that?
Here’s how we deep clean our fridge now. It took us about 45 minutes as our fridge is quite large and has many removable components; it may take you less time depending on the size and cleanliness of yours.
How to Deep Clean Your Fridge
- My personal tip: clean the day before/day of a fridge restock, so you have as little as possible to move around.
- Start by either removing the remaining food from the fridge or consolidating it to a shelf or two. It depends on your personal comfort level for having cold food out at room temperature. We usually have little enough around by the end of the week that we consolidate it to a single shelf and keep it chilling while we work.
- As you handle each food item, check the expiration date and its appearance/feel. Toss if expired or gone bad. I pride myself on throwing out food that’s past its prime, but I still found: about 10 rotten onions (I hoard onions apparently??), a moldy sweet potato, expired chia seed, some old medication, and several cheeses past their prime. Yikes! Be ruthless–only keep food you will use in your lovely clean space.
- Take out all removable parts of the fridge and wash in hot, soapy water. Shelves, drawers, baskets, etc. Whatever can be washed with good old soap and hot water, this is the easiest and most thorough way to get them clean! Dry thoroughly. We also cleaned our Brita pitcher and replaced the filter at the same time.
- Spray and/or wipe down the inside of the fridge with cleaner of choice. I used Branch Basics All-Purpose–made from their concentrate–to keep it non-toxic. Our fridge wasn’t horribly dirty, but if I thought there might be meat or egg residue, I would probably wipe it down with dilute bleach afterwards.
- Return the shelves, drawers and baskets to their proper places.
- Polish outside of fridge with all-purpose or stainless steel cleaner. Our fridge is stainless steel and I like Method Stainless Steel Polish for the exterior. Not the “cleanest” product on the market, but it’s not aerosolized (so you’re not inhaling it) and it’s effective.
- Organize the remaining food and congratulate yourself on a job well-done!
Other Fridge Cleaning Questions
How often should you deep clean your fridge? I just finished a housekeeping book that recommended cleaning monthly… but that’s unrealistic for most people, given how big a job it is! The general Internet consensus seems to be every 4-6 months, which I agree with. Always clean up locallized spills immediately afterwards for food safety reasons, especially if they’re from raw meat or eggs.
What about ice makers and water filters? Our fridge has neither, so I can’t provide specific advice. Your fridge manual should have instructions about cleaning these components (search your model online if you bought the house after the fridge was installed, and no manual was left behind–we had to do this in our last house!). Make sure to keep extra filters for either/both of these parts on hand if required so that you have all the necessary pieces to maintain your fridge, and change the filters in a timely manner to prevent hard water buildup.
Why should I deep clean my fridge? See here for the physical and mental health benefits of keeping your fridge clean and organized.
Happy cleaning! What’s a big household cleaning project you finished recently?
xx Claire