One of the most important rooms in your house to move is your kitchen. You likely have a lot of dishes, and chances are, many of them are breakable – glasses, chinaware, ceramics, and perhaps even larger items like electric can openers and microwave ovens. Packing your kitchen items for safe moving, space management, and organization is very important.
Keeping Your Kitchen Organized During Your Move
Before you move, take the time to sort your kitchen items into those things you’ll be taking with you and those things you won’t. If you’re purchasing new kitchenware, for instance, you may opt not to take certain dishes. Put them in a separate box or bag. Other items many people opt not to move with them are canned goods. You’ll end up taking these things to shelters, food banks, and thrift stores, or you may decide to have a moving sale. Either way, separate them well before your move from the items you’ll be taking with you.
Another thing you’ll want to do before you move is pack an essential items box. These are things you’ll need the last couple of days in your old home and the first couple of days in your new home. This list should include, at a minimum:
- Plates and bowls for one meal
- Silverware for one meal
- A frying pan
- Glasses for one meal
- Coffee cups or mugs
- Coffee pot
- Cooking utensils (ladle, stirring spoon, meat knife, etc.)
- Dishcloth
- Dish soap and wash rag
- You only need enough dishes for one meal because you’re going to wash them after each use. Pack everything else for the move.
Packing for Safe Keeping
You want to protect your breakable items. So make sure you pack all of your plastic bowls and glasses and other non-breakables separately. Wrap your breakable kitchen items with wash towels and dish cloths.
Pack items you don’t use often in their own boxes. These may include crystal, wine glasses, mixing bowls, cookie sheets, cookbooks, and wall hangings.
Finally, all of your breakables should be packed together tightly and wrapped in paper, towels, or bubble wrap. The key is to keep the glass, china, and other breakable material from banging against each other during the move.
Start collecting the paper, bubble wrap, etc. a week or two before your move so that you have it available when you are packing. Make sure you collect enough boxes before the move, and get plenty of boxes of various sizes to accommodate the successful movement of smaller and larger dishes.
Tips for Managing Space During the Move
Consider the space inside your moving boxes. Put smaller bowls inside larger bowls and stack them. This will take up a lot less space than simply packing all of your kitchen items in random boxes. You can do the same thing with pots and pans. Put your lids for bowls, pots, pans, skillets, and other kitchenware in one box together. Stack them largest to smallest with the larger lids on the bottom. Wrap glass lids with paper.
Keep all your food items together with perishable and nonperishable items in separate boxes or containers.
If you have shelves that can be disassembled, then you should disassemble them for the move. That will take up less space.
By keeping your kitchen items organized during your move, you will save yourself space, time, and a lot of headaches.
