How to Pack Dishes and Glassware for Moving So Nothing Breaks

Two rules do most of the work. Plates go in on edge, standing up like records in a crate — never stacked flat. Glasses get wrapped one at a time and stand upright, never on their sides. Get those two right and the rest is padding.

A stacked plate takes the full weight of every plate above it on one flat face, and one bump splits the whole column. A plate on edge takes that same force along its strongest axis. It's the same reason you can't snap a piece of plywood by pressing on the edge.

What to have before you start

• Small boxes only. Dish packs or small moving boxes. A big box of dishes is a box nobody can lift and a bottom that will fail.
• Packing paper. Newsprint sold by the bundle. Not newspaper — the ink transfers and you'll be washing everything twice.
• Bubble wrap for stemware and anything with a handle or a spout.
• Cardboard dividers if you have a lot of glasses. Liquor store boxes with bottle dividers are free and excellent.
• Tape, and a marker.

Build the box first

Tape the bottom seam, then run a second strip across each end perpendicular to the first. Dish boxes carry a lot of weight per square inch and the bottom is where they fail.

Then crumple four or five sheets of paper into the bottom, at least two inches deep. This is the crumple zone. Every box you pack for a kitchen gets this, no exceptions. Do the same at the top when you close it.

Plates, bowls and platters

1. Lay a sheet of paper flat. Put a plate in the center. Pull one corner over, then the next, then the next, wrapping it like an envelope.
2. Put a second plate on top of the wrapped first one, and wrap the pair together in another sheet.
3. Do that until you have bundles of three or four plates. Don't go bigger — heavy bundles are what crack.
4. Stand the bundles on edge in the box, side by side, like files in a drawer.
5. Fill any gap at the sides with crumpled paper until nothing shifts when you tilt the box.

Bowls nest, so wrap them individually and then nest three with a sheet between each, and stand that nest on edge too. Big platters and serving pieces go on edge along one wall of the box, wrapped in bubble wrap rather than paper.

Glasses, mugs and stemware

Glasses are hollow, so the danger is crushing from above, not impact from the side.

• Stuff the inside first. A crumpled ball of paper inside each glass supports the walls.
• Then wrap the outside. Roll the glass across a sheet of paper diagonally, tucking the ends in as you go.
• Stand them upright. Rims down is fine, on their sides is not. The rim and the base are strong; the wall is not.
• Heaviest glasses on the bottom layer, stemware on top, with a flat sheet of cardboard between layers.

Wine glasses and anything with a thin stem get bubble wrap, not paper. Wrap the bowl, then wrap the stem separately with a little extra so the stem is thicker than the base. Then stand them upright in a divided box. If you have a set worth real money, buy the cell dividers. They cost a few dollars and they work.

Mugs: paper inside, bubble wrap around the handle, then wrap the whole thing. Handles snap more than anything else in a kitchen.

The pieces people forget

• Lids. Wrap glass lids separately and stand them on edge like plates. A lid packed loose inside its pot will chip the pot and itself.
• Knives. Slide the blade into a folded piece of cardboard and tape it shut before wrapping. Write KNIVES on the outside of the box.
• Stand mixer and food processor. Bowl and blade wrapped separately, motor unit in its own small box with paper all around. If you still have the original box, use it.
• Small appliances with glass carafes. Take the carafe out and pack it with the glassware.
• Cast iron and heavy pots. Those get their own box and their own method — see how to pack pots and pans.

Weight, and the shake test

A dish box should top out around what you can comfortably lift with two hands and carry across a room. If it feels heavy in the kitchen it will feel impossible on a driveway.

Before you tape the lid: close it and gently shake the box. If you hear anything move or click, open it and add paper. Nothing inside should be able to travel even a quarter inch. That shake test catches more breakage than any other single habit.

Then top the box with two inches of crumpled paper before closing so the lid presses down slightly and everything stays locked.

Labeling that saves you later

Write on two sides and the top, not just the top. Stacked in a container, the top is the one face you can't see.

Write FRAGILE — THIS SIDE UP with an arrow, and write what's actually inside: "everyday plates + bowls," not "kitchen." When you get to the new place you want to unpack the everyday dishes first and leave the wedding china boxed for a week.

Loading them into a container

Dish boxes are heavy and they don't like being on the bottom of a tall stack.

• They go on the floor layer or the second layer, never crushed under furniture.
• Put them against a wall, not floating in the middle where they can tip.
• Nothing heavy on top. Light, soft items only — bedding, cushions, lampshades.
• Pack them in tight so they can't slide. A box that can move will move.

Storing a whole kitchen through a remodel or a move gap is one of the most common reasons people call us. The container sits in the driveway, you load the kitchen straight into it, and it either stays there or comes to our Gardena warehouse until the new counters are in. More on that in home renovation storage and the general method in how to load a storage container.

Two things I'd skip

Don't use towels and linens as your only padding. People love this idea because it saves paper and moves the linens at the same time. The problem is towels compress and shift, and by the time the box has been carried, set down and stacked, the plates are touching. Use paper as the primary wrap. Linens can fill gaps.

Don't pack the whole kitchen in one day. Do the china, the crystal and the serving pieces early, when you're patient. Do the everyday plates last, on the day you're rushing. Rushed packing breaks the things you rush.

If you want the container in the driveway before you start on the kitchen, we can usually be out within about a day.