If you want to know how to pack a kitchen for moving without opening a box of smashed plates at the other end, you’re asking exactly the right question. After years on the trucks around Wollongong and the Illawarra, the honest truth is this: the kitchen is the room that breaks people. It’s the one with the most items, the most fragile gear, and the most awkward shapes — and it’s almost always the room folks leave until moving morning. Do it properly and you’ll thank yourself. Rush it, and you’ll be sweeping up your grandmother’s crockery in the new driveway.
This is the same advice we’d give our own family. Follow it room-corner by room-corner and your kitchen will travel in one piece.
Start with the right packing materials
Good packing starts before you touch a single plate. Cutting corners on materials is where most breakages come from. Here’s what you actually need for a kitchen:
- Small and medium boxes — never large ones for crockery. A big box full of plates is too heavy to lift safely and puts too much weight on the items at the bottom.
- Sturdy dish-pack or double-wall cartons for glassware and anything precious. The thicker wall is worth every cent.
- Butcher’s paper or clean packing paper — buy plenty. You’ll use more than you think. Newspaper works in a pinch but the ink transfers onto white china.
- Bubble wrap for stemware, bowls and anything with a handle.
- Strong packing tape and a marker for labelling.
A quick tip we swear by: label every kitchen box on the side, not the top, and write both the room and the contents — “KITCHEN — everyday plates” beats a mystery box every time. If you’re storing anything, we label storage boxes differently to moving boxes so nothing gets loaded onto the wrong truck. If you’d rather skip the box run altogether, our packing services in Wollongong bring the lot with us.
Pack the kitchen in the right order
Work from least-used to most-used so you’re not living out of half-packed cupboards for a week. Start with the back-of-cupboard stuff — the fondue set, the good china, the appliances you use twice a year. Leave the kettle, a few mugs, and a couple of plates until the very last morning.
Plates: pack them on their edge
This is the single biggest thing people get wrong. Plates go into the box standing on their edge, like records in a crate — not stacked flat. Wrap each plate individually in paper, then band a few together, and stand them vertically in a box lined with scrunched paper on the bottom. Packed on edge they can take the shock of a bump in the road. Stacked flat, the bottom plate cops the whole load and cracks.
Glasses and stemware
Wrap each glass on its own, paying special attention to the rim and stem. Bubble wrap wine glasses. Stand them upright in the box — never on their sides — and pack the heaviest glasses at the bottom, lightest at the top. Fill every gap with paper so nothing can shift. If you can hear anything move when you gently shake the closed box, it isn’t packed tightly enough.
Bowls, mugs and everyday crockery
Nest bowls in threes with paper between each one, then wrap the bundle. Mugs get paper stuffed inside them and a wrap around the handle — handles are the weak point. Keep the weight of every kitchen box under about 15–18 kg. A good rule from our side of the truck: if you can’t comfortably lift it yourself, it’s too heavy and the box is more likely to give out at the bottom.
Knives, appliances and the awkward stuff
Sharp knives get wrapped in a tea towel with the blade covered, then taped, so nobody reaches into a box and gets cut. Bench appliances — the toaster, blender, coffee machine — are best packed in their original boxes if you’ve kept them. If not, wrap them well and pack them snugly. Wind cords up and tape them so they don’t whip about.
For the fridge and other big appliances, defrost the fridge at least 24 hours before the move and dry it out completely — a wet fridge on a warm Illawarra day turns into a mouldy mess by the time it reaches the new place. Empty and dry the kettle and the coffee machine too.
The essentials box
Pack one clearly marked box (or two) that goes on last and comes off first: the kettle, a few mugs, tea, coffee, sugar, a couple of plates and sets of cutlery, a knife, a sponge and some dishwashing liquid. On moving day, nobody wants to dig through twenty boxes for a teaspoon. This little box is the difference between a calm first night and a frustrated one.
Pantry, cleaning products and what not to pack
Run the pantry down in the weeks before you move — it’s free food and less to carry. Anything opened and half-used, either use it or bin it. Seal opened dry goods like flour and sugar in zip-lock bags so they don’t spill through the box.
One important note: professional removalists can’t legally transport certain items, and a few live in the kitchen. Aerosols, flammable cleaning sprays, methylated spirits, and anything under pressure are classed as dangerous goods and won’t go on the truck. Plan to transport those yourself or dispose of them. If you’re unsure what makes the cut, our guide on how to pack for a move runs through it, and the ACCC’s product safety guidance is a good reference for handling household chemicals safely.
Loading the truck and unpacking at the other end
Kitchen boxes are heavy and fragile — a bad combination. They should ride flat on the floor of the truck or on top of sturdy furniture, never squashed under anything or perched where they can topple. This is where a professional crew earns its keep: we load fragile cartons so they’re braced and can’t shift on the drive. If you’re moving locally, our Wollongong house removalists handle the heavy, breakable gear every day; for a bigger move, the same care applies on our interstate removals.
At the new place, unpack the kitchen early — it’s the room you’ll want working first. Start with the essentials box, then the everyday plates and glasses, and leave the rarely-used gear for last. Check each fragile item as you unwrap it so any transit damage is spotted straight away.
Frequently asked questions
How far in advance should I pack my kitchen for moving?
Start on the non-essentials about two weeks out — the good china, spare appliances and back-of-cupboard items you rarely touch. Pack the everyday plates and glasses a day or two before, and keep an essentials box (kettle, a few mugs, plates and cutlery) out until the last morning.
How do you pack fragile kitchen items so they don’t break?
Wrap each piece individually in packing paper or bubble wrap, stand plates on their edge rather than stacking them flat, keep glasses upright with the heaviest at the bottom, and fill every gap with paper so nothing can move. Use small or medium boxes and keep each one under about 15–18 kg.
Can removalists pack my kitchen for me?
Yes. A good removalist can pack the whole kitchen — fragile items included — with the right cartons and materials, usually far faster than doing it yourself. Many people just book the kitchen and other breakables and pack the rest themselves. See our do removalists pack for you guide for how it works.
What kitchen items won’t removalists move?
Anything classed as dangerous goods — aerosols, flammable cleaning products, methylated spirits, gas bottles and pressurised containers. These need to be transported by you or disposed of before the move. Perishable food is best used up or given away rather than loaded onto the truck.
Let a Wollongong removalist take the stress out of it
Packing a kitchen well is fiddly, time-consuming work — and it’s exactly the sort of thing we do every week without a second thought. If you’d rather hand it over, or you just want the fragile gear packed and loaded properly, give Premier Removalist a call on 1300 015 050. We’re a local Wollongong team, we bring our own materials, and we treat your crockery like it’s our own. Get in touch below for a free, no-obligation quote.
