How to Pack Small Kitchen Appliances for Moving

The kitchen is the heart of your home. Over the years, you’ve likely assimilated many appliances, cutleries, and other knick-knacks in your kitchen drawers, cabinets, and pantry. Now that it’s time to move, you must figure out how to optimally pack the smaller items, so they don’t get damaged while being hauled away.

Thoughtful planning is the secret to getting the kitchen packed right. Most items in this space, like dishes, bowls, and wine glasses, tend to be fragile, so careful handling is required.

This article explores how to pack small kitchen appliances and items to get them travel-ready. By small, we mean dishes, pots, pans, toaster, blender, immersion blender, microwave, waffle maker, air fryer, stand mixer, rice maker, Instapot, pressure cooker, and coffee maker.

Checklist of Moving Supplies Needed

• Boxes: These will be the temporary home for your belongings while being transported to the next destination. So you must invest in good quality, sturdy ones that can withstand the strains of moving. Thankfully, most appliances come pre-packed in boxes during purchase. Use the original boxes if you still have them around. If not, any medium-size box will work but make sure that it matches closely with the size of the appliance. Also, avoid multiple Home Depot visits by counting the number of appliances for which you need boxes.

• Permanent marker: Markers can be used to label the boxes by the category of content inside. If the items are fragile, like glass bowls, you can tag the box as fragile so that the movers will handle them with care.

• Protection supplies: You will need a lot of materials like packing paper, dish pouches, cardboard dividers, and bubble wraps.

• Packing tape: This will help close the boxes. We also recommend taping the user manual of each appliance right on its surface so it’s easier to find.

• Twist ties or rubber bands: These can be used to secure cords, straws, or chopsticks.

7 Tips for Packing Small Kitchen Appliances for Moving

1. Dismantle: Get your major appliances, and remove all the loose parts from its body. This includes blending attachments, toaster oven racks, baking trays, blades, detachable cords, etc. Wash and dry everything except the cords. You will be packing these dismantled parts individually, so keep them separate.
2. Use the correct box: Reach for smaller boxes. You don’t want to use large boxes because they leave too much space, which will cause the item to move around during the commute. Double tape the bottom seam of the box to make sure the flaps don’t open when you pick it up. Do this even with new boxes to avoid any mishaps.
3. Prep the moving boxes: Before putting the appliances inside, you want to build some shock absorber at the bottom of the box so that everything stays protected, even when the moving truck is driving down a bumpy road. To create this cushion layer, crumple up packing paper and use it to form a layer at the box’s bottom—place items on top of this layer. If there are empty spaces surrounding the items, insert more paper to fill the gaps.
4. Start wrapping: Tightly cover the items with two layers of paper or newspaper. Make sure to get the corners too. Tape the paper with packing tape. Make sure not to tape the appliance directly because the strong adhesive can damage the surface.
5. Time to fill the box: Once the appliance is wrapped, place it inside the box and seal it up. Also, include any cords or components related to that appliance; so they stay together. To avoid damage, make sure to coil up the cord and secure it with a twist tie or rubber band.
6. Close the box: Add more crumpled paper on top and then double tape it shut. You can also rest a string along its seam, with ends left loose on the sides. Then place the tape on top of the string. When the time comes to open the box, you won’t have to reach for box cutters or scissors. Just hold the end of the string and tug it open.
7. Label: Either write directly on the box or stick a colored label on the most visible side of the box. List all the contents inside. This way, if you need something urgently, you will know exactly which box to reach for, and you can also look at the label and tell the movers in which room the box belongs once the items are at your new destination.

Additional Tips

Appliances: Here’s a tip to make the most out of each box. Once you place an appliance inside the box, you can put smaller items on top or in the empty spaces around that appliance.

Dinnerware: We recommend individually wrapping plates and coasters in dish pouches or using several layers of packing paper. Then, stack them in the box. Insert cardboard dividers between the plates for added protection. If the item is breakable, like wine glasses or crystal ware, wrap them in bubble wrap and something soft, like a T-shirt. Fill the mouth of the glass with packing paper.

Silverware: Forks, spoons, and knives are easy to lose, and if not careful, they can damage other items in the box. You should wrap them individually and tie similar silverware together. Then place them in a shoebox. Seal it with tape, and don’t forget to label it.

Pots and pans: Pots and pans are tricky to pack since they come in so many sizes. Here is an easy trick. Get your biggest pot or pan; use it to find a box that will fit that pan both horizontally and diagonally. Then, stack the small pots within the biggest, and place the lids below the pan’s handle. If they don’t fit, insert them in empty spaces in other boxes.

Packing Food: We highly recommend donating unopened items to your local food bank. If you have opened chips and cereal, put them in tote bags. If there are dry fruits and nuts, store them in zip lock bags. Toss out anything past expiration.

We hope this article gives you valuable tips and ideas that you can implement when the time comes to pack up your kitchen to restart somewhere new. With some upfront planning, you can quickly get your kitchen moving ready in a day or two.

Thank you for reading our article. You can always order the services of Starkmovers company. Here is a list of our most popular services:

• Long distance movers in Boston;
• Long distance movers in Chicago;
• Long distance movers in Washington DC.

We are waiting for your calls!