1 cup baking soda plus 2 cups vinegar. Pour the baking soda, then vinegar on top. it will bubble up. Let is sit a couple of minutes, then run hot water.

http://thesweetest3.com/

I agree with catcam, although we always used boiling water. Also works for slow drains.

clorox.

Clorox might work, but is terrible for our waterways.

I'll second the baking soda & vinegar and/or lemon juice. If that doesn't work, a minimal amount of borax might help.

OR my favorite odor-eliminating 1-2 punch, baking soda followed by vinegar AND 3% hydrogen peroxide (not mixed together, mind you -- one followed by the other, in either order). The combo will disinfect Salmonella, Shigella, E. coli and a variety of other food-borne bacteria. And let's face it, the odor you're smelling is probably from bacteria-ridden decomposing food particles in your trap if it's coming from your kitchen sink.

Which brings me to another solution:

Clean your trap!!!!

The baking soda thing is legit. Whether you use lemon juice (a little expensive for my taste, but it makes your kitchen smell yummy) or vinegar (not nearly as yummy a smell, but just as effective a de-nasty-ifier) is up to you, but even just sprinkling some baking soda down the drain after washing the dishes makes a huge difference for me.

I do the baking soda and vinegar/lemon juice thing, but instead of just hot tap water I always follow it with a big kettle full of boiling water. The hotter the water, the more bacteria it kills. The more bacteria you can kill off and flush away the longer it takes for the stink to come back.

My former landlord taught me the old boiling water trick for clearing junk out of older, weaker pipes. Every time you boil a kettle, instead of letting the water cool again just pour whatever's left right down the sink. If you're like me and use a French press a few times a week, it helps a lot. Sometimes I'll run to the bathroom and pour it into the tub, which helps to mitigate soap scum too.

Might pouring boiling hot water down the drain ruin the seal joining the pipes?

Wasn't it you guys who said ground egg shells does the trick ?

Like ebanko, I do baking soda and hot vinegar (microwave it) and then boiling water. I live in the humid south and my drains can get gross pretty quickly, but this works great. I also sprinkle baking soda down the drain if I'm going to be out of town for more than one day - prevents coming home to a nasty funk in there.

Also, you can dump in about a half-cup of baking soda, then dribble in a few drops of essential oils-eucalyptus, tea tree, and mint are favorites of mine. Let it sit an hour or so, or overnight if you like, then rinse down with boily-hot water.

Perfect timing! I was wondering what I could pour down my bathrub drain to get rid of the stink. Or maybe it's the toilet because the guest bathroom also has a stink and there's no tub there, just a shower that is never used. Both toilets are brand new though. I can't figure out what it is, but I will definitely try some of these suggestions!

It never ceases to amaze me when I find mussel beards in my kitchen drain. Even when we haven't been eating mussels in weeks. Maybe the beards live in the pipes and come to visit the world via the drain? To get supplies and stuff of course.

Anitah3: If the toilets/shower are never used you are no doubt getting sewer gas coming up through the pipes. You need to run some water down there periodically to keep the trap full. Go in and flush the toilets and run some water down drains every week or less.

I use the time-honored baking soda and vinegar trick. Dump a good handful of baking soda into the drain, let sit (don't run any water) for 15 mintues, then pour 1/4 - 1/2 cup white vinegar down. Watch the bubbles, hear the pops and fizz, and let it sit for another 15 minutes. Then, boiling water and voila! It will be right as rain...at least for about 6 weeks... Just repeat as necessary!

Most grocery stores carry a product that you can put in your disposal to clean it (I think it's just called "Disposer Care"). It's little packets that when you turn your disposal on, a ton blue foam is released and it cleans out any little grit left in corners. It works miracles every time! It may not be the greenest solution but desperate times call for desperate measures. Don't waste your money on "Plink", it releases a fragrance that doesn't last more than 30 seconds and I don't feel like it cleans.

I second the baking soda/vinegar camp. I do it about once a week and it works a charm!

De-lurking to add that when I clean my coffeemaker with vinegar, I use the hot vinegar to wash about a cup of baking soda down the drain. It does a fabulous job keeping the drain (and the coffeemaker :) ) clean and good-smelling, and you have to feel like you wasted a whole coffeepot's worth of vinegar (even if it's cheap, I still don't want to waste it).

Great site!

Doodlespook

Get some Earth Enzymes :) They help to keep drains running, great for showers if you have a lot of or long hair... and, in general, it smells fresh after the treatment.

Vinegar and baking soda... and my 32-year-old boyfriend gets all excited to watch the "volcano." :-)

@doodlespook: that is a great suggestion! I am going to have to remember that one; my coffeemaker is about due for a cleaning.

I have been using the baking soda/vinegar method to clean dirty and slow drains around my house for a while now. I had a seriously clogged and slow bathtub drain, and my landlord was concerned that he would have to call the plumber. I tried my baking soda and vinegar, followed by a kettle of boiling water--no need for the plumber after all.

I just dealt with this when we got home from a 10-day absence! I found this online and it worked beautifully -

1/2 c coarse salt
1/2 c baking soda
1 c vinegar

Pour these into the drain in order. Cover the drain to get the bubbles working in the drain only (takes about 30 seconds). Supposedly the salt adds an abrasive component.

Then pour a kettle of boiling water through to get it all out and dissolve any remaining salt. No more stink over here!