How to Pack Your Kitchen for Moving

Regardless of when you hire a moving company, your move will feel a million times easier if you know how to pack every room. The kitchen, with all its dishes and glassware, comes with unique challenges. We look at some of the most important parts of the kitchen packing process and break it down into five easy steps.

1. How to get organized
2. How to pack dishes
3. How to pack glassware
4. How to pack pots and pans
5. How to pack knives

Make sure you have the right packing supplies. From packaging fragile items to boxing up pots and pans, you can save yourself a headache by using the right packing materials. Say goodbye to broken dishes, lost items, and extra money spent on replacing things.

Thankfully, you don’t have to start from scratch. We’ve put together a list of packing essentials:

• Dish packing kits and boxes
• Gloves and plastic bags
• Packing labels
• Packing tape and padding (e.g., styrofoam packing peanuts, bubble wrap)

When packing dishes, it’s helpful to (1) have adequate space to wrap each dish in packing paper, (2) pad the top and bottom of each box, (3) create bundles of up to four dishes, and (4) use caution with fragile items.

Get all your packing materials and clear off your kitchen table. You need a flat surface and plenty of room to wrap your plates.

You can pack sturdier dishes in bundles of four. Put one dish in the center of the packing paper and fold one corner over the top. Place the next dish on top and repeat the process until you have a bundle. Then wrap the other corners and pack the bundle vertically in your box.

It’s okay to pack some items in bundles, but you should individually wrap fragile items like china.

You don’t want to arrive at your new home to a box full of broken beer steins you collected in college and cracked stemware you received as a wedding gift. Use these packing tips to make sure your kitchen glasses arrive at your new home in one piece.

Your glassware is likely some of the most fragile stuff you have in your kitchen. If you’re going to shell out for specialty packing materials, go for boxes designed for glasses. We’ve done the hard work for you and made a list of our top three recommendations.

Two-ply toilet paper is more popular than single-ply for good reason. Treat your glasses as well as your tush and use two layers of wrapping. You won’t regret it.

Pots and pans are a cinch to pack if you do it right. With a little effort, you can minimize the number of boxes you need (and the number you’ll have to haul and unpack later).

It doesn’t matter if you know the best way to store pots and pans if you haven’t washed them.

Think Russian nesting dolls. Place smaller pots and pans inside of larger ones, and repeat the process until you have three or four layers. Separate each layer with wrapping or padding to prevent dings and scratches.

You can easily pack your lids in separate boxes. If the lids are breakable, wrap them up just like you would your plates.

An easy way to keep your kitchen items together is to put dry pantry items like dry beans, rice, or flour on top of your pots and pans. Just make sure you have enough space to close the box and tape the lid. You should also carefully wrap any liquids in your pantry that might spill.

Knives cause more accidental injuries than anything else in the kitchen.¹ Stay safe by following these packing tips.

Use a box just for your knives. There are specialty boxes if you need them, but the main point is to make sure there’s nothing else mixed in with the knives. Think of them like misbehaving kids who need a time-out. Bad things (like accidentally cutting yourself) can happen if you don’t separate them.

Put three or four knives on a hand towel with the blades pointing in the same direction. Begin at the bottom and roll up the towel so there is a cushion between each blade. Then fold over the side of the towel to protect the tips—and your hands.

Wrap the knives in a layer of packing paper once you have them rolled up in a towel. On the outside of the packing paper, label the direction of the knife blades. You can either write “Knives” with an arrow or draw a picture of a knife with the blade pointing the right way.

A house doesn’t quite feel like home without your trusty coffee maker, microwave, and toaster. Follow these simple tips to make sure you don’t have to eat your Pop-Tarts cold.

Your large kitchen appliances like the stove and fridge need some special attention. The stove has a lot of attached pieces you need to remove like racks, knobs, and coils. Additionally, if you have a gas stove, make sure to turn off the gas before disconnecting it.

There are three things to remember for your fridge: (1) clean it, (2) defrost it, and (3) follow the user manual to disconnect it. If you’ve lost your user manual, just check Google.

Shake the crumbs out of your toaster and clean your microwave’s turntable plate. You don’t want any small critters making the voyage with you—and it feels great for everything to be clean on Day One in your new place.

Take apart your small kitchen appliances so nothing gets broken in transit. You paid a lot for that KitchenAid mixer, so take a second to wrap the bowl separately.

Just make sure to keep all the parts in the same box. Moving day isn’t a great time to play Where’s Waldo? with your waffle maker.

Kitchen appliances have odd shapes, but that doesn’t mean you have to use extra boxes. Put several individually wrapped appliances in the same box if possible. If there just isn’t space, fill in the gaps with other kitchen supplies like cereal boxes, brown sugar, and measuring cups.

We’ve got you covered with these additional resources:

• The Ultimate List of Moving Supplies
• Where to Buy Moving Boxes
• How to Find Free Packing Supplies

1. Porch.com, “From the Kitchen to the ER: Looking at Emergency Room Visits Caused by Kitchen Objects