2when I open refrigerator door there is a terrible odor from the refrigerator. Have removed anything in the refrigerator that could possibly be smelling. got any ideas?

Hello Heather.
Have you had anything wrong with fridge that caused the smell.
Try charcoal in both fridge and freezer.
Hope it will help.
Fish smell is hard to get read off

Remove all the food from the unit and clean it with a diluted chlorine bleach solution and let dry and then do it one more time. Also get a box of baking soda and put it in the fridge to absorb odiferous smells odors

What does it smell like? Burnt plastic , mold , rotten food? Check gaskets and temp in fridge, food could be spoiling. It is tough to get serious odors out of fridges. Bleach, vinegar are good for killing odors. Check manufactures recommendations.

Hi!!

If possible, take it outside, remove shelves, bins and drawers, etc and wash unit using dish soap and a bit of clorox, rinse well and leave unit open overnigth, if the doors shut, the odor will stay make sure they stay open.

Good Luck!! Don't forget to rate this post!!

clean the drain tub in backside of the fridge over compresser

The drain is at the bottom inside the freezer section. It is possible a piece of something got behind a panel, or otherwise in a "hidden" spot. Or something is in the defrost water tray underneath and every time it defrosts, it gets wet and releases the odor again. Look in the drain pan by removing the kick plate (bottom grate under the doors) and look to see if anything is there. Use a few open boxes of baking soda in the fridge (to absorb odors), and wipe the inside with some vanilla extract. that combination will help with the odor. But the source of the odor needs to be removed first. It sometimes can be hard to find.

The drain is at the bottom inside the freezer section. It is possible a piece of something got behind a panel, or otherwise in a "hidden" spot. Or something is in the defrost water tray underneath and every time it defrosts, it gets wet and releases the odor again. Look in the drain pan by removing the kick plate (bottom grate under the doors) and look in the drain pan to see if anything is there. Use a few open boxes of baking soda in the fridge (to absorb odors), and wipe the inside with some vanilla extract. that combination will help with the odor. But the source of the odor needs to be removed first.

Clean it with a bleach solution and leave the doors open for several days. (out in the sunshine if possible).You can try putting a bowl of plain charcoal (not the match-lite kind) and letting it run empty with only the charcoal for a week or 2. If anything got into the insulation you are out of luck. Even the plastic liner will absorb odors and become difficult if not impossible to remove.
Eric

I'm sorry that I don't have a solution, but we have the exact same problem with an older model KitchenAid side-by-side. Did you get this problem solved? If so, can you share what you did?

If the icemaker motor or heater short out it will cause a foul odor. I have never heard it described as cooked broccoli, but it can be pretty bad. Remove the icemaker and inspect the bottom of it where the heater element is and remove the white cover of the motor and look in there. You can take the three screws out of the motor module and see if anything is burned on it.
If you can rule out the icemaker, the next things to check would be the evaporator fan motor and defrost heater. Generally, if a fan motor starts causing an odor it will stop running completely and if a defrost heater goes out it will quit defrosting. It is possible, but unlikely, that something has gotten into the evaporator area and is sitting on the defrost heater so that it is "cooking" during the defrost cycle.
Check the icemaker first, it is the most likely cause of the odor. Post back with complete model number if you need further assistance and we will go through checking everything else.