Most of us love the kitchen, as we eat delicious food and bond with people we care about over it. Americans typically love a spacious kitchen, too. But what happens when we need to pack all of that in a bunch of plastic moving boxes? Stress, that’s what happens. However, if systematically approached, packing up your kitchen can be easier than you think. Let’s see how to make it easier.

Packing Fragile Dishes, Pots & Pans

Even though dishes seem scary to pack, if approached with a bit of extra care, you’ll be able to do it easily. Use the heaviest-to-lightest trick when packing dishes, making sure each dish is separately cushioned and protected. If you get sturdy packing boxes, you’ll ensure extra protection, but in each case, label the dish boxes with “fragile.”

Pots and pans are easier to pack as they might not be as fragile, but they can get scratched, so make sure to wrap them, as well.

Packing Knives & Sharp Items

Use additional precaution with all the sharp blades. If your knives have a block, by all means, use them, but even then, make sure to tape them and wrap them. After wrapping all the blades in packing paper (newspapers will also do the trick) and taping them together, wrap everything in a towel or other cushioning material, and tape it.

Packing Kitchen Appliances

The best boxes you can use for appliances like toasters, blenders, etc., are their original boxes. If some of the original boxes are missing, try to pack those appliances into boxes of similar shape and size and pad them properly.

Packing Food

Eat your food! The less food you have to bring along, the better. Any food near the expiration date needs to be either eaten or gotten rid of. Also, check with your movers about the rules of transporting food. However, if you can transport some of it, make sure to secure anything that can get spilled, and use dedicated bags with ice packs for frozen food. Good luck!