The Refrigerator and Freezer

This is the easiest item in the kitchen, and worth knowing before you spend time worrying about it.

A refrigerator is used cold. Cold use does not cause absorption, so a fridge does not absorb what is stored in it and does not require kashering.

What it does need

A thorough cleaning, with lukewarm water and cleaning agents, covering:

• All the walls
• The compartments
• The ceiling and the floor of the cabinet
• The drawers
• The egg trays and any fittings

That is the whole requirement. The list is worth reading closely, though, because it is more thorough than the wipe most fridges get — the ceiling, the underside of shelves, the runners that drawers sit in, and the fittings that come out are all named.

Why cold changes everything

The principle underneath this runs through all of kashering: heat is what transfers taste, not contact. Food sitting cold against a surface does not pass anything into it.

That is why a fridge, which holds meat and dairy and everything else against the same shelves for years, raises so much less than an oven that has held one thing once.

The same reasoning is why a spill needs cleaning rather than kashering — and why the exceptions to it are worth knowing.

The exceptions worth flagging

Something hot put straight in. A hot pot placed directly onto a shelf is not cold contact, and that is a different question.

Long soaking. Cold transfer does occur over twenty-four hours — kavush — so liquid pooled and left is not the same as a dry spill wiped up.

Pesach. The standard is stricter, and cleaning has to account for actual chametz rather than only absorbed taste.

For ordinary year-round use, though, the answer really is: clean it properly and carry on. Ask your rav about anything unusual that has happened in yours.