Banish Dishwasher Odors With A Clever Solution Hiding In Your Trash Bin

Your dishwasher works so hard to clean your dishes of any trace of food as it vigorously sprays off the residue clinging to the dinnerware. After heavy use, sometimes your dishwasher can start to smell a little gross, often because food or standing water sat in it too long, leading to a buildup of bacteria. There are plenty of store-bought ways to tackle the issue, but one clever solution to banishing odors in your dishwasher could be hiding in your trash bin: orange peels. It's time to put those scraps of oranges your kids left on the countertop to work and not just in your compost bin. Running them in your dishwasher lets you use them as an effective natural deodorizer.

Even if the dishwasher is a way to clean dishes itself, sometimes, it can build up with food residue collecting in the appliance's nooks and crannies over time. Scraps of various meats, vegetables, eggs, or fruit littering the bottom or edges are the reason why your dishwasher smells so bad. Your filter may also be clogged with the remnants of previous meals, and the smells can persist, even after you clean it.

You may already use orange peel cleaning hacks to clean the microwave or other things in your house, but these citrus peels also have a great scent to refresh your dishwasher. Oranges contain essential oils, the bulk is of which is limonene, which gives the fruit its rich citrusy aroma. Plus, it also works as a natural degreaser, which is why it's often used in cleaners. As you use your orange peels in the dishwasher, the process unleashes these oils, helping remove any lingering funky odors.

Removing stale, funky food smells from your dishwasher with orange peels is easy. First, if you haven't already, clean your dishwasher filter. Next, place one to two orange peels inside your dishwasher's utensil basket or rack to keep them from getting stuck in the filter, then run it using a normal cycle while empty. As the dishwasher dispenses hot water, it releases all of those great-smelling essential oils from the peels so they wipe away any lingering odor.

If you'd like to take odor removal from your dishwasher a bit further for the future, you can try making a vinegar and orange peel spray. The vinegar's acetic acids help by binding with the odor-causing molecules, while the orange peels take up the same task. Mix up a spray by soaking orange peels inside a jar of distilled white vinegar, letting it sit for a couple of weeks. Shake the jar occasionally, straining the vinegar into a spray bottle after the two weeks are up. Then, blast away any stench that remains.