Packing up the kitchen when moving locally or interstate can be the most challenging task due to the abundance of items, which include moving kitchen appliances, and fragile and irregularly shaped objects. Moreover, many small miscellaneous items in the kitchen can disrupt the organisation of the packing process.
If you enter your kitchen to pack without a plan, it can be a big mistake during your move. However, if you think ahead and use clever methods, you can make packing your kitchen easier and approach it like an expert. Follow these tips to find out the best way to pack up a kitchen without getting overwhelmed.
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Organisation is Key!
Planning will determine when is the best time to move house. It will make it easier to pack your kitchen during a busy move and prevent wasting time and energy. If you end up having more items than expected on a moving day, we can assist you in locating an affordable storage unit.
Organising is the first step on how to pack up a kitchen. Before packing, it’s important to declutter and eliminate unnecessary items, just like you would for any other room in your house. Moving provides an excellent opportunity to minimise your belongings and reduce the load. Take some time to separate those things that no longer serve a purpose for you.
This is especially true when organising the kitchen. Often, one may hesitate to part with kitchen tools or equipment, thinking they might use it later. However, if the crème brulee set has been untouched for over a year, it is unlikely to be used.
What To Prepare
To avoid broken dishes, lost items, and spending extra money, use the appropriate packing supplies for different things, including fragile ones and pots and pans. You will likely require more packing supplies than you anticipate when packing your kitchen items.
How to pack a kitchen for moving properly? It’s essential to have the appropriate supplies, such as boxes and protective materials for dishes and fragile items. Fortunately, you don’t need to begin with nothing. We have compiled a list of essential items for packing.
Packing Paper
Unprinted newsprint sold in sheets is known as packing paper. It is used for wrapping fragile items to prevent breakage during storage or moving.
Glass Dividers
Glass dividers are versatile packing materials that can be used for storing stemware, glasses, vases, or other fragile items. They are available in different sizes to fit various types of boxes.
Bubble Wrap
Bubble wrap is a protective material for fragile items, just like packing paper. However, since bubble wrap is pricier, it should only be used for particularly delicate items.
Packing Tape
To ensure high quality, use packing tape and a dispenser. Buying in bulk is recommended since you will use a large amount.
Boxes
Get boxes of different sizes to pack your things – big, medium, and small. Use large boxes for light and irregularly shaped items such as small appliances, bakeware, plastic containers, and dish racks. For heavy items like cookbooks and dishes, it’s better to use medium-sized boxes. Boxes that have handles are more convenient to carry around. If you need to pack fragile items like glassware, go for heavy-duty boxes.
Markers
To stay organised and remember the contents of each box, use a dark-coloured marker to label them. Include the box’s contents and mark it as “fragile” if necessary.
How to Pack Kitchen Items
Packing what’s inside each kitchen cabinet and drawer can be challenging, but it needs to be done. Start by choosing one and clearing out the items. Prepare a section on your countertop by laying down packing paper and begin packing. Follow these steps to know how to pack crockery for moving.
Pots and Pans
Packing pots and pans can be easy if you do it correctly. You can reduce the number of boxes you will need and make the entire process of moving less overwhelming by putting in a bit of effort.
Step 1: Wash Your Pots and Pans
Washing pots and pans is essential, even if you know the ideal way to store them.
Step 2: Stack Them From Smallest to Biggest
To clarify, imagine nesting dolls from Russia. You can apply this concept to your pots and pans by placing smaller ones inside larger ones and repeating this process until you’ve created three or four layers. Remember to separate each layer with wrapping or padding to avoid damage, such as dings or scratches.
To pack your lids without any hassle, you can place them in separate boxes. If your lids are fragile, wrap them up similarly to how you wrap your plates.
Step 3: Pack Pantry Items with Your Pots and Pans
Place dry pantry essentials like beans, rice, or flour above your pots and pans to keep your kitchen items organised. Ensure the box has adequate space to close, and seal the lid with tape. Additionally, carefully wrap any liquids in your pantry to prevent spills.
Dishes
How to pack dishes for moving? To pack dishes safely, you should follow these steps: (1) Have enough packing paper to wrap each dish adequately. (2) Add extra padding to the top and bottom of every box for extra protection. (3) Bundle up to four dishes together. (4) Be careful when handling fragile items.
Step 1: Make Space
Please gather your packing materials and remove any items from your kitchen table. You will require a flat surface and ample space to wrap your plates.
Step 2: Pack Dishes in Groups
To ensure the dishes are safe:
- Pack them in groups of four.
- Start by placing a dish in the middle of the packing paper and folding one corner over it.
- Add another dish and repeat the process until you have a bundle.
- Wrap the remaining corners and pack the bundle vertically in the box.
Step 3: Exercise Caution In Packing Fragile Items
While bundling some items is acceptable, wrapping fragile items such as china is essential.
Kitchen Glassware
To avoid finding your cherished beer stein collection and wedding stemware in pieces upon arrival at your new home, follow these packing tips for your kitchen glasses.
Step 1: Use Special Boxes
Glasses are quite delicate, so handling them carefully is important when packing them. To ensure the safety of your glassware, consider using boxes specifically designed for glasses. We have compiled a list of the top three recommendations for such boxes to help make your decision easier.
Step 2: Double The Wrapping
it is suggested that you use double-layered wrapping for your glasses. This will prove to be a worthwhile decision. Using two-ply toilet paper is recommended because it offers better quality than single-ply.
Knives
To avoid accidents in the kitchen, it’s important to know that knives are the most common cause of accidental injuries. Follow these packing tips to know how to pack cutlery for moving.
Step 1: Never Mix with Others
To prevent accidents, use a separate box only for your knives. You can even use specialty boxes, but keeping other items away from the knives is important. Treat them like misbehaving kids who need to be separated. Otherwise, you run the risk of hurting yourself.
Step 2: Towel-wrap Your Knives
Place three or four on a hand towel with their blades facing in one direction to safely store knives. Next, roll up the towel from the bottom, ensuring a cushion between each blade. Finally, fold over the towel’s side to cover the tips and protect both the blades and your hands.
Step 3: Mark Where The Knives are Pointing
After rolling up the knives in a towel, cover them with a layer of packing paper. Also, make sure to label the direction of the knife blades on the outside of the packing paper. For example, you can use an arrow labelled “Knives” or a picture of a knife with the blade pointing the right way.
Kitchen Appliances
To truly feel at home, we own appliances to make ourselves comfortable, like a reliable coffee maker, microwave, and toaster. But when moving home, we also have to worry about moving kitchen appliances carefully. If you don’t have the original boxes, just pack your items in the closest size box.
Step 1: Clean Your Appliances
On the first day in your new place, it’s important to shake the crumbs out of your toaster and clean the turntable plate of your microwave. This ensures that no small insects or pests make their way with you to your new home. Additionally, having a clean space will make you feel great.
Step 2: Disassemble
To avoid any damage during transportation, disassemble your small kitchen appliances. Don’t forget to wrap the bowl of your mixer separately, especially since it was expensive. However, ensure that all the parts are placed in the same box. Moving day is not the ideal time to search for the parts of your appliances.
Step 3: Fill In The Gaps
You don’t need extra boxes just because kitchen appliances have odd shapes. Instead, try to put multiple individually wrapped appliances in the same box. If you can’t fit them all together, use other kitchen supplies like cereal boxes, brown sugar, and measuring cups to fill the space.
What to Do With My Refrigerator
When packing your kitchen, you must worry about several items, including cutlery and plates. However, one of the things you need to move out and probably the most challenging item to pack is usually moving your fridge.
Preparing The Fridge for The Move
If you want to store or transport a refrigerator, there are some important steps you need to take. Be sure to defrost it by turning it off ahead of time, remove any items inside, clean it, and make sure it’s easy to move.
Step 1: Remove All the Contents
To prepare the fridge for moving, the first step is to create a plan for the items inside it.
Step 2: Clean The Fridge
Before moving the fridge, defrost it after emptying or transferring the food. This preventative measure will ensure that no remaining water leaks during the move and no growing mould.
Step 3: Disconnect It
If you need to switch off your fridge before moving, doing it at least a few hours in advance is recommended. Do it yourself rather than expecting your removalist to do it for you.
Step 4: Make Sure The Inside Of The Fridge Won’t Move
Once you have determined how much time is needed to turn off the fridge before moving it, you should address the doors and remove the drawers and shelves.
Transporting The Fridge
On a moving day, it’s important to consider transporting your fridge with minimal stress and damage. You can opt for the best fridge moving service when moving your fridge. But if you won’t, here are some steps you can follow.
Step 1: Get A Dolly
Using a dolly is an excellent option for moving a fridge. You can attach straps to slide the refrigerator forward, lift it slightly, place it onto the dolly on its side, and hold onto both sides to push it on until it’s fully loaded.
Step 2:Guide The Dolly
Gradually tilt the fridge backwards, ensuring the angle does not exceed 45 degrees and that it feels secure and correctly positioned. If there are stairs, one person can guide and lift them while the other moves the dolly with the fridge.
Step 3: Into The Moving Truck
Ideally, when moving a fridge, use a truck with a platform or a plank for support. If you are to ask, ‘How to transport a fridge lying down?’ then we suggest getting that out of your head. Though possible, it is important to avoid tipping the refrigerator on its side to prevent damage caused by its weight.
Keep in Mind!
There are a lot of ways on how to pack up a kitchen for moving. These are just additional tips to have an easy move.
- Moving to a new house is an excellent opportunity to clean out unnecessary items, especially in the kitchen. It is not practical to move things that are expired or never used.
- You should eat food from your pantry so that you have less to pack. This will benefit you in two ways. It will spoil during the move anyway and will become rubbish that needs removing.
- Prepare an “essentials” box with the necessary items that you will require immediately after moving to your new house. The box should contain essential and frequently used things such as a kettle, toaster, plates, bowls, cutlery for each family member, dishcloths, tea towels, detergent, and paper towels.
- Label each box as detailed as possible in your inventory list. This will help you quickly locate the specific box you need when you arrive at your destination
- To prevent boxes from tipping when stacked, do not overload them. Instead, fill the box mostly and then use packing paper to cushion the box up until the lid.
The Smooth Movers Can Do It All for You
Packing your kitchen without a plan during a move can be a big mistake. However, if you think ahead and use clever methods, you can approach packing like an expert and make the process easier. These tips will assist you in quickly and efficiently packing your kitchen, ensuring that all items remain intact during the move and that you arrive at your new home without any issues.
After finishing packing, the next step in the kitchen is to clean and remove marks from surfaces, built-in appliances, and floors, especially if you’re renting. However, at least the most challenging part is now over!
To ensure a hassle-free move, consider hiring The Smooth Movers’ professional movers. As a top removalist, we can guarantee that everything will be organised efficiently. One of our greatest strengths is moving kitchen appliances and knowing how to ship large items in Australia. Contact us today for a quick solution on your upcoming move.
