Help, kitchen cupboard stink

Help, kitchen cupboard stink

Author
Discussion

alan36

Original Poster:

462 posts

199 months

Friday 30th May
quotequote all
Moved into an older house and the kitvhen cupboards stink of oldness leaving everything we put in them smelly. We have tried scrubbing, lemons, white wine vinegar and baking powder to no avail. Anything else we could try as we cant afford a new kitchen???

Road2Ruin

5,922 posts

231 months

Friday 30th May
quotequote all
Paint the inside of them?

xyz123

1,078 posts

144 months

Friday 30th May
quotequote all
You need to sand them and then let them air dry before painting. Remove plinths and check under cabinets. Howver the smell maybe coming from wall behind or floor under the cabinet in which case not much you can do (having said that smell is funny as you may soon get used to it after couple of weeks!! )

OutInTheShed

11,432 posts

41 months

Friday 30th May
quotequote all
Depends exactly what the problem is.

If the cupboards have fairly well sealed surfaces, like typical laminate, then painting them won't make much difference, the smell is likely coming from unsealed surfaces if washing hasn't worked.

Plenty of ventilation and giving it time may be the only answer.
You may need to sort out background humidity in the kitchen.
I'd put a hygrometer in there and see if there's a humidity problem promoting mould.
You may want to think about extractor fans, cooker hood etc.

In the meantime, I'd suggest storing any 'dry' foods like flour, cornflakes etc etc in glass jars or plastic containers.

Removing plinth boards/kickboards etc to allow airflow around and behind cupboards is a good idea.
Maybe take the doors off for a while?

alan36

Original Poster:

462 posts

199 months

Friday 30th May
quotequote all
Its mainly the eye level cupboards, they seem worse that low level ones.

9xxNick

1,059 posts

229 months

Saturday 31st May
quotequote all
Neutradol has some very effective odour neutralisers in it. It's also relatively inexpensive so has got to be worth a try.

zb

3,299 posts

179 months

Saturday 31st May
quotequote all
alan36 said:
Moved into an older house and the kitvhen cupboards stink of oldness leaving everything we put in them smelly. We have tried scrubbing, lemons, white wine vinegar and baking powder to no avail. Anything else we could try as we cant afford a new kitchen???
Febreze spray
Jeyes fluid to wash out (wear gloves and have the windows open)
Enzyme cleaner (pet store or pet aisle in supermarket), normally used for pet pee cat spray etc.

Nuclear option; hire an ozone cleaner