How to remove that musty smell from the kitchen cabinet?

The musty smell in the cabinet is really annoying, especially in the kitchen where you want everything to stay fresh. First, you really need to dry out the space. Take everything out of there, wipe down the shelves and sides with a completely dry cloth, and leave the cabinet open for a while so it can air out properly. If the humidity is really bad, you can even use a hair dryer - just run it through there quickly to help evaporate any water that's lingering.

Once everything's dry, put in some stuff that absorbs moisture. Silica gel works great for this - those little packets you get with new electronics are perfect, just save them instead of throwing them away. Another really common option is to use baking soda in an open container inside the cabinet, and swap it out every month or two. Activated charcoal also soaks up moisture really well, and as a bonus it absorbs bad smells too. Put one or two containers in different corners of the cabinet.

Now, the real important thing is figuring out why it's humid in the first place. If your kitchen is generally humid (it probably is, because kitchens always have this problem), you need to improve the ventilation. Open the windows after cooking, use your range hood properly, and if you can, put a fan in there to circulate the air better. If the cabinet is near the sink or somewhere that gets splashed with water, then you need to dry everything thoroughly whenever you wash something nearby. Some people also put mothballs in there, but then your cabinet's gonna smell like that really distinctive mothball smell, so it just depends if you like it or not.

One of the things that works really well is putting used coffee grounds inside a cloth or old sock and hanging it at the bottom of your closet - it absorbs moisture and gets rid of the smell at the same time, unlike just using charcoal or baking soda. If you have a small dehumidifier, one of those that uses electricity, it works even better, but honestly coffee already does the job pretty well on its own, and it doesn't cost anything if you drink coffee at home anyway.

Silica gel or activated charcoal work pretty fast, but then you gotta replace them like every month. In my case, what actually worked was leaving an open box of baking soda inside the closet - it's super cheap and lasts like 3-4 months before you need to swap it out. And a little bit of ventilation makes a difference too, like leaving the door open for a few days when the weather's dry, or just putting a portable dehumidifier nearby for a while.