Water from a refrigerator dispenser is the same water as the kitchen tap, filtered through a small cartridge and held in a line and sometimes a reservoir inside the appliance. When it tastes stale, plasticky or simply worse than the tap, the cause is nearly always somewhere in that short path rather than in the supply, and the checks are quick.
The cartridge, first and most often
Fridge filters are small, and the indicator on most appliances is a timer rather than a measurement, so a cartridge can be exhausted well before the light changes or still be fine when it does. Exhausted carbon stops reducing chlorine and taste, and a wet cartridge held past capacity is a place where bacteria will grow, which produces exactly the stale or musty taste people describe. Change on the manufacturer's rated volume or interval, and write the date somewhere, since the indicator is not evidence.
Standing water in the line
The tube between the filter and the dispenser holds water, and in a household that uses the dispenser rarely that water sits for days at refrigerator temperature. It picks up taste from the tubing and it is not protected by any disinfectant residual once it has passed the carbon. Draw and discard a few glasses before judging the taste, particularly after a holiday, and do the same after any filter change to clear carbon fines. If the taste only appears on the first glass, this is the whole explanation.
Ice, which tells you something different
Ice absorbs odours from the freezer compartment, so ice that tastes of last week's dinner is a storage problem rather than a water problem: keep it in a closed container and discard old ice, which sublimates and concentrates whatever it has absorbed. Cloudy ice, by contrast, is usually dissolved air and minerals rather than contamination. If both the water and the ice taste wrong in the same way, the cause is upstream in the filter or the supply rather than in the freezer.
When it is the supply after all
If the tap tastes the same as the dispenser and both changed at once, the supply is the place to look: a chlorine burn by the utility, work on the mains, or a change on a well. Compare a glass from the kitchen cold tap with one from the dispenser to separate the two in a minute. Where the tap is the problem, a proper point of use filter treats far more water than a fridge cartridge can. Our fridge filter guide covers matching cartridges by part number.
Questions people ask about fridge water
Why does my fridge water taste stale?
Usually an exhausted cartridge or water that has stood in the line. Change the filter on volume rather than the indicator light, and draw a few glasses off first.
Is the filter indicator light reliable?
On most appliances it is a timer, not a measurement, so it can signal late or early depending on how much water the household actually draws.
Why does my ice taste of food?
Ice absorbs odours from the freezer. Keep it in a closed container and discard old ice, which concentrates what it has absorbed.
How do I tell if it is the fridge or the water?
Compare a glass from the kitchen cold tap with one from the dispenser. If both taste the same, the cause is upstream of the appliance.