How to pack a kitchen for a move
Start with the pantry and the fridge
The kitchen takes longer to pack than any other room, and the easiest way to shrink the job is to pack less food. Start a few weeks out: use up what is open, and donate sealed tins, packets and spices you will not get through. Opened bottles, flour and anything that can spill are better finished or thrown out than carried.
Run the fridge and freezer down in the last week. Empty and defrost the freezer a day ahead so it is dry on the day, then wipe out the fridge and leave the doors propped open so nothing grows while it waits.
Plates on edge, glasses wrapped one by one
Plates and bowls are stronger on their edge than stacked flat. Wrap each plate in paper, stand them on their sides in a carton with crumpled paper top and bottom, and pack bowls in nests of two or three with paper between them.
Glasses and stemware need individual wrapping, with the paper tucked inside the bowl as well as around it. Use cartons with dividers if you have them, put the heavier glasses at the bottom, and mark the carton fragile on the top and at least one side.
Knives, and the sharp things
Wrap each knife blade on its own in thick paper or a folded tea towel, then bundle them together and tape the bundle shut. Write KNIVES on the outside so nobody reaches in blind at the other end.
Do the same for skewers, peelers, graters and cake slicers. A sharp edge that cuts through a loose wrap is the most common way a kitchen carton turns into a hazard.
Small appliances and their cords
If you still have the original boxes for the toaster, blender or coffee machine, use them: they were shaped around the appliance. Otherwise wrap each one, pad the gaps with paper and tape the cord flat to the body so it cannot swing or snag.
Remove loose parts such as jugs, filters and trays and pack them with the appliance, not separately, so they end up in the same carton.
Keep heavy items in small cartons
Cast-iron pans, stone mortars, bakeware and tins of food are heavy, and a large carton full of them is a back injury waiting to happen. Pack them in small cartons and fill the space with lighter items such as tea towels so the carton can be lifted by one person.
Put the heaviest things on the bottom, and never leave an air gap that lets the load shift. If you can shake a carton and feel movement, it needs more paper.
Pack an open-first kitchen box
Fill one carton with what you need on the first evening and the first morning: the kettle, a couple of mugs, a pan, cutlery, dish soap, tea towels and a few plates. Label it OPEN FIRST on several sides, and tell the crew where it is so it goes to the kitchen rather than the pile.
It is the kitchen version of the essentials box in the packing guide for interstate moves, and it is what saves a first night of takeaway in paper bags.
What to pack yourself, and what to leave to the crew
Packing at BARI can be full or partial, or you can pack some of it yourself. Many clients pack clothes and paper and leave the kitchen, glass and art to the crew, because that is where the time and the breakage risk sit. Whichever you choose, it goes into the written scope, which covers access, packing and distance and is agreed before moving day.
Floors and doorways are protected before anything is carried, which matters most in a kitchen where cartons are heaviest. If you are weighing it up, home removals in Sydney explains how a move is run, the moving house checklist shows where kitchen packing sits in the timeline, and you can request a quote to talk through what to include.