Oh gross! My mom just had a tenant that left her a similar mess. They also left garbage bags of plates, cups, silverware, pots and pans, everything. They didn't like to wash dishes, so they threw it all away!!! I was horrified- by that and the mess. Depending on how bad the mess was that went with the mold you may want to add dish detergent to the cleaning water as well, but bleach should kill the mold. Make sure you have the drain tube and catch pan clean, too. That is if it's a self defroster and has those. A cup of bleach to two gallons of water (a scrub bucket 2/3 full) with some dish detergent should do it. I would recommend using at least a face mask and ventilate well. If they made an attempt at cleaning, they may have sprayed some stuff in the fridge that will react with the bleach. Please ventilate well. Ask me how I know this!;p

I hope they didn't leave the rest of the place as big of a mess for you. Good luck!
peanutmom

I would clean the refrigerator as I normally do - with some dishwashing liquid mixed with water. If you want to add some bleach for good measure, that's fine. Unless you have asthma or some other disease affecting your lungs, I wouldn't worry about wearing a mask.

However, is the mold on the walls or the shelves? If mold is growing on the walls, there may be a problem with the frig that you need to be concerned about. If it is on the shelves, you can write it off to spills and bad housekeeping.

Thank you thank you thank you for the answers