How to Pack Dishes for a Move
Packing plates, bowls, stemware, mugs, and other extra-fragile items (whether or not they are delicate china) is one of the hardest and most painstaking tasks ahead of you when moving house and home. There’s every opportunity to shatter something precious (and make a mess), so it’s important to know how to pack and transport your dishes while losing the fewest of them in the process. Today, we are looking at the best ways to pack your dishes for moving to prevent cracks, breaks, and bends in your precious cargo! The most important thing to grab for the task is extra packing paper, but you’ll also want medium-sized boxes and all the usual goods for packing – tape, markers, and labels.
1. Cushion Everything
You should already know to wrap your dishes in plenty of padding, but it’s also important to line each box’s top and bottom with plenty of cushion for the ride to your new home. Layers of crumpled newsprint and packing paper are perfect for the job, but make sure it’s crumpled and not folded. Folded paper is not as protective because of the way it compresses. Usually, 2 inches to 4 inches is a good thickness for padding your boxes, depending on how heavy your box will be. Heavier items? Pack in more paper. And make sure to cushion the top of the box as well for maximum support.
2. Pack Dishes Vertically, Don’t Stack
While you may be tempted to pack your dishes by stacking them (doesn’t it seem easier?), this will almost certainly cost you a plate or bowl or two on the journey. One slip or jostle in the wrong way, and all those dishes come smacking down, and the combined weight of the stacked dishes will cause some to crack or shatter. Instead, make sure that you line your dishes up vertically after you wrap them carefully. And along the same lines, you should remember that the same problem can occur if you don’t wrap your plates and bowls individually. Bundles lead to breakages!
3. Fill in the Spaces
Overpacking can be a problem, but leaving gaps is a big no-no with dishware. For 
any extra spaces within the dishes (like glasses) or around the dishes, make sure to use paper, bubble wrap, and peanuts to protect handles, edges, and spaces from smushing in the box and cracking your precious pieces. Packing similar shapes and sizes in the same boxes can save you space and prevent cracks as well. Heavy plates and mugs shouldn’t be packed in the same boxes as delicate china and stemware. By pairing your dishes properly, you can put together boxes more efficiently, pad them more effectively, and remove the danger of heavy things bumping into fragile things.
4. Heavy Items Go Under Light Ones
Personally, we don’t like to pack multiple layers of dishes into one box. However, sometimes putting glassware on top of plates or bowls can be a better use of box space and can make sure that boxes aren’t partially empty (and thus a danger to too much movement). In these cases, and with anything else you’re packing, it’s smart to pack the light things on top of the heavy ones. This means that plates and bowls should be packed first, and other smaller and lighter items can be packed on top. Just make sure that no box is heavier than 40 or 45 pounds; otherwise, you start to worry about items breaking under the combined weight of the dishes or the boxes breaking.
5. Don’t Skip Padding Pots and Pans
Pots and pans and baking sheets seem much sturdier than your ceramics and glass – and you’re right, they are. However, this doesn’t mean that they aren’t in danger of dents and scratches. Some items, like baking sheets or metal utensils, can bend or dent easily from heavier items bumping into them (or getting dropped). Non-stick pans and regular pans alike can get scratches from rubbing up against one another during transport. This is why it’s important to make sure that you wrap each item in packing paper just like your dishware. You will need to buy plenty of packing paper to spend hours wrapping everything in your kitchen – but trust us, it’s worth it.
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