What order should I pack a kitchen in?

Start with the cabinets you never open — platters, the bread maker, holiday dishes — which is usually a third of the kitchen. Then everyday dishes and glasses, keeping out one set per person. Then pots, pans and small appliances. Pack the pantry and the last few things on the final morning.

How do you pack plates for moving so they do not break?

Wrap each plate in packing paper, then stand them on edge in the box like records in a crate rather than stacking them flat. Pad the bottom and top of the box with crumpled paper, fill every gap so nothing rattles, and use small boxes or dish packs — never large boxes.

Should I use newspaper to wrap dishes?

Use plain packing paper instead. Newsprint transfers onto plates and glassware, so you end up washing everything twice at the new place.

How to Pack a Kitchen for Moving, Step by Step

The kitchen is the room that makes people quit packing for the day. It holds the most fragile things, the most awkward shapes and the most stuff you're still using the morning the truck comes.

The order below is the one the moving companies and packing guides broadly agree on, with the points where they differ called out. Across those guides, an average family kitchen comes out at roughly 15 to 25 boxes, including 4 to 6 dish packs; a small apartment kitchen runs nearer 8 to 12, and a large kitchen with a full pantry can pass 30. Our own suggestion is to give it two evenings rather than one afternoon.

What to gather first

Small boxes and dish packs. Dishes and glasses go in small boxes or dish packs, never large ones. A large box of dishes is too heavy to carry safely and the bottom gives out.
Packing paper, not newspaper. Newsprint transfers onto plates and you'll wash everything twice.
Bubble wrap for stemware, and a marker and tape you keep in your pocket, because both disappear.
A dish pack divider set if you have a lot of glasses. It does in ten minutes what wrapping does in an hour.

Pack in this order

The cabinets you never open. The punch bowl, the bread maker, the twelfth casserole dish, the holiday platters. It's usually a surprising share of the kitchen, and none of it is in use.
Everyday dishes and glasses, minus a few. Keep out one plate, one bowl, one glass and one mug per person and pack the rest. Paper plates cover the last days.
Pots, pans and small appliances. Nest pots with paper between them. Appliances travel better in their own boxes if you still have them.
The pantry, then the last few things. Food goes late, and the coffee maker, the kettle, a pan and the knives go in your open first box on the last morning.

How to wrap the fragile things

Plates stand on edge. Wrap each one in paper, then stand them vertically in the box like records in a crate, not stacked flat. A flat stack takes the whole weight of the pile on the bottom plate; on edge, each one carries itself.

Glasses and stemware get wrapped twice — paper inside the bowl of the glass, then paper around the outside — and go upright in the top layer with a divider between them.

Knives get a sleeve. Roll them in a dish towel, tape the roll shut, and write "KNIVES" on the tape. Someone else is going to open that box.

Pad the bottom and the top of every box with a couple of inches of crumpled paper, and fill every gap. A box should not rattle when you tilt it. Then tape the seam and both ends. Keep kitchen boxes under about 50 pounds, which is the limit the packing guides converge on — past that the seams give out and nobody can lift it.

Label kitchen boxes for unpacking, not just for moving

Kitchen boxes are the ones you'll want in a specific order at the new place, so the label has to say more than "KITCHEN":

Write	Why
The room and a count — "Kitchen 4 of 11"	Tells you at a glance when one hasn't arrived
FRAGILE, on the sides and the top	The top is hidden the moment anything stacks on it
THIS SIDE UP, with an arrow	Plates on edge only stay on edge if the box does
What's actually inside — "everyday plates, mugs"	Decides whether this box gets opened tonight or next week

Our free label maker prints labels numbered by room, and how to label moving boxes covers where to put them and what else to write.

Take a photo looking down into each kitchen box before you tape it. Two days in, when you want the colander, the photo is faster than opening four boxes.

The kitchen is where the rebuying happens. Small tools — can openers, measuring spoons, the good peeler — are the things that quietly get replaced after a move. Plenty of families own a second can opener within a year of moving. They had one. They just couldn't find it.

We built Stow Haven to hold those photos next to the box number and the room, and anyone you invite can search the list from their own phone.

Questions

What order should I pack a kitchen in?: Start with the cabinets you never open — platters, the bread maker, holiday dishes — which is usually a third of the kitchen. Then everyday dishes and glasses, keeping out one set per person. Then pots, pans and small appliances. Pack the pantry and the last few things on the final morning.
How do you pack plates for moving so they do not break?: Wrap each plate in packing paper, then stand them on edge in the box like records in a crate rather than stacking them flat. Pad the bottom and top of the box with crumpled paper, fill every gap so nothing rattles, and use small boxes or dish packs — never large boxes.
How many boxes does a kitchen take?: Published estimates put an average family kitchen at roughly 15 to 25 boxes, including 4 to 6 dish packs. A small apartment kitchen runs nearer 8 to 12, and a large kitchen with a full pantry can pass 30. Medium boxes make up the biggest share.
Should I use newspaper to wrap dishes?: Use plain packing paper instead. Newsprint transfers onto plates and glassware, so you end up washing everything twice at the new place.