One of the most complex and demanding rooms that require the most planning for an upcoming move is, by far, the kitchen. Not only does it have lots of small and large, bulky or fragile items that require careful packing, but most of them come with special disassembling and cleaning instructions that will add to the chore. With so many scratching, denting and breaking hazards during packing and transportation, there is no wonder so many people choose to contact professional out of state movers and have them handle their kitchen packing. The good news is that most movers offer total or partial packing services. This means you could hire them to solely help you with your fragile, breakable packing needs, including bowl packing, or they could pack the entire kitchen for you and get it ready for moving. If you have never prepared a kitchen for moving before, it would help to know a few reliable tips that could simplify your planning and ease some of the stress. Here is what you need to do to get started.
Plan The Kitchen Packing Well Ahead
Plan a couple of days for sorting out exactly what you want to keep, sell or donate before you stick everything in the boxes and call the moving company. The fewer items you will need to relocate, the less you will pay for the moving services, so taking the time to lighten your kitchen load should prove to be more useful than you might think. As a rue of thumb, try to get rid of those kitchen items that you have not used for more than a year. Also, if you still have wedding gifts that you never even took out of their boxes, it is safe to say you won’t be needing them once you will arrive at your new house either. Plan a yard sale or give them away for free to friends and family. There are also plenty of local charity shops as well as food banks that will be very happy to accept them. The earlier you start the kitchen packing, the more efficient and accurate you will be with your packing.
Find The Right Packing Supplies
Breakable packing materials for fragile items, heavy duty packing boxes in all sizes, plenty of bubble wrapper, packing paper, tape and labelling markers are the main type of materials you are going to have to use for your kitchen packing.
It is best to focus on using dividers that can be placed inside the boxes and stack stemware and other items that are more complicated to pack and carry outside state lines in safe conditions. Plastic wrap should be used for holding the items together and thus keep them from moving around inside the boxes. Do not get cheap when it comes to the amount of kitchen packing supplies you will buy. The truth of the matter is people almost always underestimate the packing supplies they need, especially for large households with numerous members. Get at least 5 or 6 small boxes, 10 or more medium boxes, 5 or 6 large kitchen packing boxes, a few XL boxes if you plan on moving your refrigerator, stove and other bulky items, plenty of packing paper and sufficient colored markers and labels for all the boxes. For your fragile or breakable packing needs, you may need to use some additional bubble wrapping and bumper materials all around the items you will need packed, so prevent damage during transportation.
Pack A “Must Have” Box For Your New Kitchen
While you may not need to set up your ice cream maker or unpack your entire set of pans and pots as soon as you will arrive at the new address, you should have a special box filled with kitchen necessities that you will most likely want to use upon arrival. Pack enough plates, silverware and cups for all the member of the household and also a couple of dish towels, sponges, dish soap and the coffee maker – basically, everything you know you will want to use at the new place.
How to Pack All Kitchen Items The Easy Way
Choose the top cabinets and work your way downwards to the drawers and bottom cabinets. Place plenty of packing paper on the countertop and get started. Use the stacking technique for your plates and bowls so you can pack them more easily. For breakable packing, use a wrapper for each item prior to staking them one on top of the other. Simple pieces of packing paper placed between two plates or for bowl packing should suffice. Add plastic wrapping to keep everything tightly together and rely on the space found around the items to pack any odds and ends.
To pack your pots and pans, rely on larger boxes and proceed to stack one inside the other, with the large ones hosting the smaller ones. Don’t forget to add small pieces of paper between each pot and pan as well to percent scratching. Add plenty of support around the pottery with the help of dish towels placed inside any openings. Also, remember to use packing paper for the lids made of glass and place them around inside the pts or use a distinct box for them.
Use specialty dividers you can place inside the glassware boxes and add wrapping paper for enhanced security. Avoid placing any items on top of the glassware as it will not be able to take on the weight and crack.
Rely on plastic wrappers for your serving utensils and flatware and place the wrapper around the trays. Add extra utensils on top of the wrapped trays wrapped in more packing materials in case they are fragile or place them loosely on top of the trays. Knives should be rolled in packing paper rolls and wrapped in dish towels. Finally, use rubber bands to secure them properly and place them on their side.
Give the kitchen packing process at least two days so you can have plenty of time to tackle everything stress-free and use labels for immediate access to your kitchen essentials upon arriving at the new address.