The Cause

A refrigerator odor that you can't "see" is like an itch you can't scratch. You can spend an afternoon scrubbing your fridge from top to bottom without getting rid of that whiff of food gone bad. That's because spills often trickle into the drip pan underneath the refrigerator or into the insulation and go undetected for months.

The Cure

There's still nothing better for absorbing fridge odors than baking soda, and the old staple just got a makeover: Arm & Hammer's new Fridge-n-Freezer Deodorizer (70 cents at supermarkets) has front and back windows lined with a cheeseclothlike fabric to maximize ventilation. Vanilla extract is also an effective remedy: Soak a cotton ball in it and leave the cotton ball exposed on a dish until dry.