Kitchen odors tend to send you toward the same suspects: the trash can, dishwasher, refrigerator, or food caught in the drain. Reddit user u/Equivalent_Agent4128 checked all of them after a stale smell kept returning in their kitchen, but none of the usual cleaning made much difference.
The clue came when the smell seemed stronger after running water. In a thread shared with r/Home, the homeowner explained that they took a closer look at the sink and found the problem inside its overflow opening, a small hole near the top of some sink bowls.
From the front, the opening looked clean. A narrow bottle brush told a different story, pulling gray residue from the channel hidden behind it. After cleaning and flushing that passage, the homeowner reported that the smell didn’t return.
Sink Overflow Can Hide Buildup Out of Sight
An overflow gives rising water another route toward the drain. The opening is visible inside the bowl, but the channel running behind it isn’t.
That concealed space can stay damp and collect residue without showing any obvious dirt from the sink. Commenters in the Reddit thread recognized the problem, with one describing overflow channels as a hidden place where moisture and food particles can meet.
In this case, wiping the sink and cleaning around the main drain hadn’t reached what was sitting farther inside the overflow.
Bottle Brush Revealed What Was Inside
The homeowner started with warm tap water, dish soap, and a narrow bottle brush. Pushing the brush into the overflow brought out a noticeable amount of gray residue.
They then poured a small amount of enzyme drain cleaner into the opening and left it overnight, following the directions on the bottle. The next morning, the overflow was flushed with warm water for several minutes.
Another Reddit commenter who had dealt with a similar odor in a bathroom sink said a small bottle brush and baking soda helped clean the hard-to-reach area.
Plugging the Drain Changed the Flush
The homeowner also found a way to get more water into the overflow channel. Before flushing it, they plugged the main sink drain.
Instead of the water escaping through the drain at once, the overflow passage could fill with water during the rinse. They repeated the process once more the next day. After that, the homeowner said the kitchen odor had not returned.
Sink designs differ, and not every kitchen sink has an overflow. Any cleaner used inside one should also be suitable for the plumbing and used according to its label.
Check the Overflow When the Usual Cleaning Doesn’t Work
Mystery kitchen smells can come from many places. Commenters on the thread mentioned dishwasher filters, drains, and even dead mice behind appliances as sources they had encountered.
The overflow is worth adding to that checklist when the sink has one, especially if the odor becomes more noticeable after water runs.
What makes it easy to miss is also what makes this discovery useful: the opening can look clean while residue remains inside a channel you can’t see.
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