I try and give mine a good complete scrub down every 6 months or so. Shelf by shelf, I remove/toss everything. I wipe down walls with hot, soapy water. Rinse with clean sponge. Clean the shelf in the sink with hot, soapy water. Scrub any gunk off. Dry and return, wiping down the bottoms of items that live on that shelf. I don't have lingering smells if I do this.

Weekly, I do a toss of anything that has gotten too old to use. I do this just before trash day so that I don't have food languishing in the can for a week.

The thing I always forget to do, but which is crucial, is to take a thin rag or paper towel, use hot water and vinegar or soap, and run around the gasket around the fridge doors--lots of gnarly stuff likes to collect there, in between the layers of vinyl/rubber.

OMd. I so need to adopt some kind of a system for this. I've noticed that even my most organized, clean and tidy friends have fridge cleaning issues, and so do I. Meaning that I can see the same crumb or drip for much too long before it occurs to me to do something about it. WHY is that?
And I have condiment issues. I worship you people who can throw condiments out with reckless abandon. Maybe if I there were good ethnic markets closer to me, I wouldn't cling to my green curry paste and tamarind and siracha like such a psycho.

Weekly, I do a toss of anything that has gotten too old to use. I do this just before trash day so that I don't have food languishing in the can for a week---by mntwmyn

Me too. I try to wipe the visible areas inside the fridge each evening when I clean up the kitchen. And have company over a lot. Nothing makes you clean up the fridge (and microwave) faster than news that your mother-in-law is coming.

Every week before I go grocery shopping I get rid of anything that is past its prime. I try to wipe down the shelves once a month or so.

We have a smaller fridge (on purpose) which forces me to clean it out often. I try to clean it out of out of date food and uneaned leftovers every week on the day that our grocery delivery comes. While I'm in there I give it a wipe down as well but I try to do a deep clean, as well as emptying the freezer all the way out a couple of times a year.

I just cleaned my fridge last week as part of my annual big cleanup before Chinese New Year. Other than that blitz, the shelves get cleaned as the need arises.

My method: moving from top to bottom, I emptied one shelf at a time, took the shelf out of the fridge and washed it in hot water mixed with a bit of vinegar, then the walls of the fridge at that level and put it back in, and then the contents. Same with the compartments in the door. Then the outside, making sure to get those gaskets around the doors.

I don't stockpile food, I usually have it relatively empty just before grocery shopping time (once every two weeks), so I spritz it with water/vinegar mixture and give it a quick wipedown.

I also keep half a lemon and some baking soda in a corner of the fridge to keep it smelling nice.

Couple times a year I clean it out, gaskets, shelves and all, with the baking soda / water. Works good ;)

We do our grocery shopping every two weeks, and before we go I do a quick inventory of what we need and get rid of everything that's old or rotting (it's really gross...believe me!). In an ideal world I would rinse everything down at this time but it usually doesn't happen...so I would say the fridge really gets cleaned only about once every 2 months or so. :/

When I do clean it, it's usually our Dr. Bronner's soap combo, which does the trick wonderfully. I just take everything out and spray down the interior, then wipe everything down with a warm cloth as I put things back in. The fridge sure looks much nicer when I do all this work, but who has the time weekly? I'm feeling inspired...maybe I'll be at home tonight cleaning the fridge!

http://www.abbeycatchat.com

I'm with the "less is best" crowd here. I don't stuff my fridge with a bunch of stuff. I clean up spills as I go. If you don't try to jam stuff into every cubic inch of your fridge, and keep it moderately well-organized, there are fewer spills and less to clean up generally.

For those of you who just can't throw out old condiment, here's my tip, which, I daresay, is rather fool proof. When you open a jar/tube of whatever, take a permanent marker and mark the date you open it.

It's going to be hard to resist rationalizing not throwing out something when it is staring at you in the face that the thing in it has been festering in the jar for like, 8 months.

My new energy star rated frig lowered my monthly electric bill by $15!!! So you know I'm going to take care of it like a baby. I wipe it down inside and out with those pre-moistened windex cloths. Especially the glass shelves. I think it likes it.

When you get a whiff of bad things, find them and throw them out. When bowls of leftovers are furry, throw them out. When there are layers of dust underneath, brush it out.

weekly wipe down.. learned a hard lesson upon moving day where I spent HOURS cleaning a grungy fridge from 5 years of living. If kept clean, it only takes a few seconds w/ a paper towel; mostly done before putting groceries away.

I do a clean out every few months using the method my mom taught me:

Fill one sink or bucket half full with warm soapy water

Working top to bottom empty EVERYTHING off each shelf/drawer, wipe down the shelf/drawer, and put everything that's still good back, wiping it down as you go.

I like this because it forces to look and touch everything and every shelf.