How to pack a kitchen so nothing breaks

Almost every breakage claim in this industry traces back to a badly packed box, not a dropped one. The kitchen produces more of them than every other room combined. Here is how professional packers do it.

The one rule that prevents most breakage

Plates go on edge, never flat. A plate lying flat takes the full weight of everything above it across its weakest axis. On edge, like records in a crate, it is supported along its strongest dimension and the stack braces itself.

People stack plates flat because that is how they sit in a cabinet. In a cabinet nothing is stacked on top and nothing is vibrating for forty minutes on I-95.

Materials that matter

Item	Use
Dish barrel / dish pack	Double-walled carton for all breakables. Worth the cost.
Packing paper	Unprinted newsprint. Newspaper transfers ink onto china.
Bubble wrap	Stemware and anything with a delicate handle or spout
Cell dividers	Glasses and stemware. Turns a box into a wine crate.
Small boxes	Anything dense. A large box full of small appliances will fail.

Working through the kitchen

Plates and bowls

Wrap each piece individually in paper, then bundle three or four together and wrap the bundle. Stand bundles on edge in a dish barrel with two inches of crumpled paper below and above. Fill every gap. If it shifts when you tilt the box, it is not done.

Glasses and stemware

Stuff paper inside each glass first, then wrap outward from the base. Stems get wrapped separately before the bowl. Use cell dividers and stand glasses upright, heaviest at the bottom.

Pots and pans

Nest them with paper between each, lids wrapped separately and stood on edge alongside rather than stacked on top. Cast iron goes in its own small box — a Dutch oven in a large carton with other things is a box that splits at the seam.

Knives

Wrap the blade in cardboard and tape it closed before wrapping in paper. Label the bundle. Somebody has to unpack it.

Small appliances

Original boxes if you kept them. If not, wrap the appliance, remove and wrap detachable parts separately, and pack in a small carton with paper on all six sides. Tape the cord to the appliance so it does not become a separate lost item.

The pantry

Open packets go in the bin — they will attract pests in a truck or storage unit. Sealed goods travel fine in a small box, but keep it small: canned food gets heavy faster than anything else in the house. Oils and liquids get bagged and taped, then boxed upright and labelled that way.

Closing a box properly

• Tape the bottom in an H pattern — the centre seam plus both edge seams. Most box failures are bottoms, not sides.
• Fill every void. Empty space is what lets contents move.
• Do not exceed 50 pounds. If you cannot lift it comfortably, neither can anyone else.
• Label the side, not just the top. Boxes get stacked.
• Write the room it goes TO, not the room it came from.

The box you should pack last and unpack first

One clearly marked kitchen essentials box: kettle or coffee setup, two mugs, a pan, a knife, a cutting board, dish soap, a sponge, a roll of paper towels, and a bin bag. Carry it in your own car. The first evening in a new home is much better with coffee in the morning.

When it is worth paying someone

Kitchens take most people an entire day and are the room they most regret doing themselves. A fragiles-only pack — where we do the kitchen and china cabinet and you do everything else — is the most common middle ground, and typically runs $300–$600 for a two-bedroom including materials.

See what our packing service covers, or get it priced with your move.