To challenge you to find where the smell in my kitchen is coming from?

[deeedeee]

Smells like off milk, it's driving me insane! Can't find it and the inlaws are coming for the day tomorrow!

Bin has been cleaned, recycling drawer, fridge, looked behind fridge, behind cooker, cleaned all cupboards, floor and surfaces scrubbed.

What is it??

[user1477282676]

Is there an old dishcloth or teatowel hiding somewhere?

[Finola1step]

Dead mouse under the floorboards?

[DesolateWaist]

Remove the kickboards under the floor cupboards. Something has got behind there and died or gone bad.

[DJBaggySmalls]

Have you banished all cottage cheese?

Its not actually a foodstuff you know.

[nothruroad]

Is there a gunky blocked bit in the back of your fridge? That's what happens to me.

[eltsihT]

Is it the rotting roots of a house plant?

[Ilovecaindingle]

Back of the fridge is a drip tray. . . .

[Marcipex]

A damaged tin of something?
Milk spilled under the fridge?

[YesICanHearYouClemFandango]

Gone off bananas?

[TheWoollybacksWife]

Mouldy potato lurking in a cupboard?

[MsJamieFraser]

Drains?

Put your washing machine (if its in the kitchen) on a 90 wash with bi carb and white vinegar on a 90c wash, dish washer on longest setting with bi carb and vinegar, and boil the kettle and pour down drains and leave bleach overnight.

[Shelvesoutofbooks]

Is your sink clogged?

[TheSpottedZebra]

Yep, it'll be that hole at the back of the fridge for draining - or the tray that it drains into.

Or a potato, although that stinks more of rotten death than it does off milk.

[TheMasterNotMargarita]

Nothing left in the microwave?
I used to leave stuff to defrost inside it during the day and once forgot chicken breasts for about a week.
It was not pretty

[deeedeee]

the fridge is a big american style one and doesn't have a drip tray. that was my first thought but there's nothing to remove and check.

no tea towels or dishcloths, i've tidied and cleaned like a dervish today. Spent 3 hours in there.

we don't have mice or floorboards.

nothing behind the kick plates

just smelt the house plants and tins and nothing

[NaughtyNiffler]

I'd check the fridge drip tray! 😊

[deeedeee]

hole at back of fridge?

washing machine isn't in kitchen. but planning on checking gunk trap next

[deeedeee]

hole at back of fridge?

washing machine isn't in kitchen.
but planning on checking gunk trap next

[deeedeee]

no microwave, bananas or potatoes.

[Wisewisewords]

Smell the worktops, and the cooker top. Wiping them down isn't always enough. May need another do with very hot, soapy water, bleach, surface cleanser. A small amount of spilt milk can end up smelling like mouldy old cheese.

Also if you use a washing up bowl, the underside of it which doesn't normally get washed out end up smelling like drains/ off milk.

Use a cotton bud to clean out the gunk from just under the plug hole holes and any overflow.

My fridge has a drainage hole through to a tray at the back where the defrosted water goes to evaporate. The little pipe sometimes gets blocked with jelly like gunk, and the tray gets similar gunk in it. While pulled out, disinfect under the fridge in case anything spilled.

Check everything in fridge, even if it should be ok.

Take the shelves out of the fridge and wash in soapy water. Check nothing spilled that has run into the bottom of the door seal or any other crevices.

Wash chopping boards?

The bin itself?

Any vegetable or fruit?

The underside of the cupboards and the kick board.

You can tell I have had to go on a where is that smell coming from hunt on more than one occasion!

[statetrooperstacey]

There will be a panel at the back of the fridge that you will have to unscrew/ remove to get to it, but your fridge will definitely have a drip tray. Find that and you find your smell. wise

[Liska]

Have you got a gas hob? I once traced a smell by dismantling the rings and found rotting eggy milk right underneath where a pan had previously boiled over. A tiny amount made a massive pong.

[Wisewisewords]

Your fridge might be different but mine has a ledge right at the back at the bottom that any condensing water is meant to collect in and there is a little plastic pipe there that connects to a drip tray. If you can safely pull your fridge out you will see it. Mine is just a fridge not a fridge freezer.

When you find out what it was causing the smell, let us know!

[GogoGobo]

Plastic fitting around a lightbulb if you have the dangly ones. I once took my house apart looking for a source of odour and it was nothing to do with food!

[Shyposter]

Plug sockets? We had a kettle plugged into a small extension lead, and the plug melted into the extension lead and smelt kind of, er, fishy.