I read that yesterday and it absolutely surprised me. I normally empty it out once a year and take out the shelves and bins and clean everything. The rest of the time I'll do a shelf at a time - that way I don't have to turn it off.

Mine is cleaned weekly. I wipe down the shelves and organize the refrigerator foods. Now that freezer....that's the black hole--I never clean in there!!

I empty the old food weekly. I wipe down all the shelves/drawers about once a month.

I don't recall. Old things tossed when found, spills controlled when they occur, and nobody has ever gotten sick from it.

I need to get a new fridge, but every time I clean the old one it looks so good I can't part with it.

You mean they're not self-cleaning?

Everytime I get a new one :-O

only when I go to reach for something and something else slaps my hand...

Dried blood is usually the driver.

The modular shelf design of my FD Jenn Air allows me to shift things around and clean one or two shelves at a time, so I never have to empty the whole thing out; that was apparently my point of resistance. I now clean it every three months, old fridge only got "the treatment" when it was horrid.
Casey

You mean they're not self-cleaning?

Once a week on a cursory level. Thorough once a month. Plus, before I go shopping I do a general inspection and toss of things that are on the verge.

Oh, and when people are coming over for dinner.

when my mother-in-law comes to look after the kids

When I can't cram anything else into it.
When someone makes a major spill that overflows onto numerous shelves.
When I can smell it with the door closed.

Once a decade whether it needs it or not! You think I'm joking!

maybe I am a little fussy, but since I live with someone that just puts things in any random old place without worrying about whether that is their designated place or not, I empty it out and wipe everything down about every 10 days or so