Removing Cigarette Smoke Odors

We recently bought a brand new dishwasher off Craigslist. The dishwasher had never been used, but had been stored in a garage that apparently had been used as the "smoking room". It smells so strongly of smoke.

We have put baking soda in it for 24 hours. We have used vinegar. I have run it several times with various cleaners hoping to work the smell out.

I made the mistake of running a few plastic cups in it early on and now they have a permanent smoke smell. Help. We can't afford to replace another dishwasher (this is our 3rd in 5 years).

By Chandra Salisbury from ID

Answers:

Removing Cigarette Smoke Odors

Try sitting a bowl of cider vinegar in it every day for awhile. Just set it in and close the door. Vinegar removes almost every odor. Thoroughly clean the outside of the dishwasher, too. I can't imagine that the inside of a dishwasher continues to smell like cigarette smoke after a thorough cleaning when it was stored in a garage. (09/17/2009)

By Deeli

Removing Cigarette Smoke Odors

Try getting a bunch of wadded up newspaper and stuff it in the dishwasher for at least a couple of days. I know this works on refrigerators that have been turned off and got smelly. Hope it helps! (09/19/2009)

By Donna