Is your fridge starting to look dirty and maybe even stink a little? In this post, I’ll share everything you need to know for cleaning the fridge with vinegar!
Your refrigerator is one of the most used places in your home and it comes in contact with your food. So it’s important to make sure it gets clean.
But you don’t want to clean with a bunch of chemicals right next to your food. That’s why using vinegar to clean the fridge is the preferred way to take care of the mess.
Before you clean your fridge, you’ll want to make sure you have the space to clean. While you are taking food and shelves out of the fridge, you’ll need to put it all somewhere.
Make sure your kitchen counters are cleared off and your sink is empty. You may also want to put your food in a cooler to keep it cool while you work.
Gather the supplies you need to clean your fridge.
- vinegar (1 part) and water (3 parts) in spray bottle
- microfiber cloth
- scrub sponge or magic eraser
- dish soap
- bucket or bowl
You are working around food. Anything you use to clean the fridge will leave a lingering odor and may come in contact with your food.
That’s why the products you use to clean should be safe. Besides the vinegar and water spray bottle, you’ll also want to fill a medium sized bowl hot water, a half cup of vinegar, and a few drops of dish soap.
Take everything out of the refrigerator.
Now that you have your supplies ready, pull all the food out of the fridge. This is a good time to check the expiration dates on condiments and throw anything out that is expired.
Throw out old leftovers or food that is no longer good. Remove any shelves and drawers that can be taken out.
It so much easier to clean the refrigerator when all of the bulky pieces are removed. Since I have an older fridge, the drawers on the door do not come off.
But I can still easily clean them.
*Please note, most likely your shelves are glass! So make sure you are extra careful as they can chip or break easily.
Wipe down the inside of the refrigerator.
You will need to work quickly and in small sections so that the water stay warm and works more effectively.
Spray the inside of the fridge with your all purpose spray. Then use the bowl of warm water to wet the microfiber cloth and ring it out.
Use the microfiber cloth to wipe down the area of the fridge that you sprayed with the vinegar and water solution.
For stuck on gunk that doesn’t come off with a microfiber cloth, use a scrub sponge. Hands down, my favorite scrub sponges are the green and yellow Scotch-brite ones.
I’ve tried all kinds, and they have been my favorite for years now!
Wash drawers and shelves.
Next, you’ll need to wash the drawers and shelves that you took out of the fridge.
Fill a sink with warm, soapy water and wash all of the removable shelves and drawers.
I like to simply use dish soap just like washing a sink full of dishes. Wash down the removable shelves and drawers.
Be sure to dry these pieces throughly before returning to the fridge.
4. Return all the shelves, drawers, and food to the fridge.
Now that your fridge is clean, you can easily put back all of the pieces. If a shelf arrangement wasn’t working well before, now is a good time to try a different arrangement.
Try putting the shelves and drawers back in a way that works best for your family.
For instance, when I put our shelves back in the fridge, I made sure we had more room for all of our drinks. Before cleaning the fridge, our drinks were always a hassle to get to. But not anymore!
How often should you clean the refrigerator?
DAILY:
- Wipe up spills.
- Keep raw meat in a container that will not leak on the fridge shelf and contaminate other foods.
WEEKLY:
- Throw out any unused leftovers.
- Wipe down empty shelves or drawers.
- Wipe the exterior handles and door.
QUARTERLY:
- Deep clean the fridge like I shared in this post you are reading right now. 🙂
- Replace open baking soda box to eliminate odors.
EVERY 6 MONTHS:
- Change water filter.
- clean refrigerator coils if you have pets.
YEARLY:
- clean refrigerator coils if you don’t have pets.
Okay, so now it’s your turn to make your fridge shine! I’m gonna be honest and say it is a lot of work. BUT…..the end result is worth all the work.
It feels so good to open up a clean refrigerator!
4 thoughts on “How to Clean a Refrigerator with Vinegar: Step by Step”
I am actually a grandmother of five who totally enjoys reading ALL of your emails. I wish I had you when I was raising my three children. Maybe I could have been spared some of the guilt in thinking I wasn’t doing everything perfect and comparing myself to others. I LOVE all of your cleaning suggestions and have adopted many of them. I absolutely love your faith in God! God Bless You and keep the emails coming!!
Oh, June! You have no idea how encouraging your comment is! Thank you for your kind words. I’m so happy you enjoy my emails and that we can share a common faith in God. God bless you too!
We just moved into a temporary rental home, and the extra fridge and freezer in the garage was ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTING! There was cardboard stuck to the shelves of the fridge (like a 12 pack soda case got stuck and remains were left when they ripped it off, and stuff towards the back of the fridge that I cannot even explain. Maybe dropped food that had molded. Nobody had lived here in 4 months and the fridge was turned off. We have a family of 5, so an extra fridge is ideal for us, But I shut the door and walked away. I couldn’t fathom cleaning someone else’s disgust! Fast forward 6 weeks, and it’s Thanksgiving week. An extra fridge is REALLY ideal, now, so to Pinterest I came to search the best way to clean this nastiness. I found your blog and noticed how you said you loved the green and yellow scotch- brite sponge best of all. I didn’t have one, only some plain old blue sponge, that I figure would work just fine. Once I came across some stains that just weren’t coming out, I went on a search. This house came fully furnished and they had a TON of random chemicals in their laundry cabinet, so I decided to look in there for a magic eraser. Lo and Behold. They had a green and yellow scotch Brite. It had clearly been well used and parts were only holding on by a thread. But I decided to use it anyway, and I kid you not, Those stains were coming out as if I WERE using a magic eraser! I had never realized there could be such a difference in sponges. Lol! Thanks so much for the heads up! Oh! And 2 hours after I started cleaning the fridge, I was shocked at how well it looked! My husband and son were at Costco, and when they came home with the Turkey, they thought it was a new fridge, lol! I happily stored my Thanksgiving groceries in there and am soo excited to have an extra fridge again. Thanks again for sharing. God bless you, and may your holidays be blessed and joyful as well!
Oh wow! I’m so happy you were able to save the fridge simply by cleaning it! Yes, those sponges are the BEST hands down!