Yes, it is like that. I'm not sure how to clean the coils when they're inside that solid housing. Are housings usually easy to remove?

If the back looks sealed, it is likely that the coils are on the bottom of the fridge. You can usually access them from the front like this:

Is there a soffit above the fridge? Maybe something died up in there?

Kitchen Maintenance 101: Cleaning Your Refrigerator Coils

Ick!!!

And you're a really good friend :)

Thanks, iroll. I'll show her your link. (I'm not that good of a friend, lavendar. She can do the vacuuming herself. It's just that she doesn't participate in GW since it went to Houzz.)

No soffit, and the ceiling is poured concrete, so I don't think it's anywhere in the building itself. Anyway, it moves with the fridge.

Mice can be in the wall behind the fridge or in any nooks and crannies.

"
if you're up above the fridge, like when I was cleaning the
over-fridge cabinet, it's pretty bad. Kind of a rotten smell."

Someone left meat in the freezer and let it defrost. Meat juice ran into the insulation, where is is rotted and producing vile smells.

You really can't get it out, although defrosting the freezer and letting some febreze liquid run into the cracks might help.

Ugh. This is where I would buy the most inexpensive fridge that fit the space. Is it a rental? Is the property owner willing to pay for it?

Thanks, everyone. Luckily there's no mousy smell anywhere, so I don't think there's a live mouse problem. The buildings are poured concrete and they had everything out to tile the floor so they'd have seen any holes, I think.

Lazy, you may be right, but given that no one has been in there for more than a week or two at a time for several years, it's kind of hard to think how it could have happened. If we'd had a long power outage, like after the hurricanes in 2004/2005 (two weeks each time!), yeah, but they'd shut everything down for the summer long before those blew in.

Linelle, I doubt he would right now, considering how much he's had to pay for repairs, tiling and carpeting. It's something to keep in mind and maybe the thing will fail eventually so he has no choice, but right now he's also paying for running a new water line with trenching and all, so this isn't the time to ask.

It's not a horribly noticeable smell unless you're right on top of the fridge, although with the air freshener remnants it's hard to say that for sure. There are rats outside here from time to time (we're right next to a nature preserve and their last seasonal renter clubbed to death the friendly blacksnake that took care of this building because she was afraid it would hurt her dog), and the fridge is right next to the door to the patio, so it's not out of the question that one snuck in and managed to die there.

In any case, I'll give her a coil brush as a house-warming gift.

If there is an HVAC vent in the ceiling in that general area there could be a dead mouse/animal in there too. Unscrew the vent covers to check and while you have the cover off use the vacuum wand attachment to get any dirt/dust in the vent.

I think there was someone on GW/THS who had a similar smell and they found a dead bat in their ceiling kitchen HVAC vent.

Thanks, chispa. Ick. Luckily since this is only in the air blowing up from the back of the fridge I hope it's not that. It's not in the dining room at all, which is where the nearest vent is.

EDIT In any case, she plans to have all the vent covers off to see if they stuck any hidden air fresheners up there, so she'll have a chance to check. Can't understand why that smell isn't dissipating if there's no source for it anymore.