The Kitchen can be one of the most difficult areas of your home to move. There’s far too many small, delicate items that could get lost or broken far too easily, silverware can also be daunting to sort, and pack— and what about all your pots, pans, and packaged food items? What are you meant to do with those?

Luckily, Hire a Packer has you covered with more than a few useful tips from one of our professional packers to make your kitchen an utter breeze to sort away. Before you even begin on your kitchen, make sure that you have enough boxes to store everything you’ll need, and be prepared for a ruthless clean. If you’re short on boxes, or don’t know where to start in finding them, you could always hire moving boxes to ease the load.

So, where do you start?

1. Sort and simplify.

Go through your kitchen, and find the items you’re not going to move along with you. Find appliances you haven’t used in months (or even years!) and consider if you truly need these going into this new phase in your life. Consider donating these to shelters, or friends who might make more of a use of them than you did. Only move things you know you’re going to be using on a daily basis in your home. Be very selective during this process, and don’t be afraid to take your time.

2. Put your essentials aside in their own box.

Set aside the things you might need on the days leading up to your move, and in the few days following so that you won’t have to go totally without. These might include a few plates, a few glasses, appliances (such as a coffee machine, or a toaster), dishtowels, and some silverware. Mark this box clearly so that when you make it to your new home it will be easy to locate, and unpack first upon arriving.

3. Line your glassware and plates.

Plates and glassware can easily be broken during a move, and they’re easily the most difficult to keep unscathed. Invest in packing paper for these items, and wrap each glass (wine and regular) in a generous amount of tissue paper. If you want to be extra careful, use t-shirts, blankets or towels to wrap around your glassware, and cushion the spaces between plates. Make sure there’s little room for movement inside the box so that the glasses will move as little as possible. Do the same for your plates.

A good rule of thumb for knowing how much packing paper and lining you may need for your move is to have an idea of the amount of packing paper you think you may need, and then to double it. Be generous with packing paper, because this is one thing you can never be too cautious with.

Place a few sheets of packing paper between each one to cushion them as much as possible. Stack curved bowls upon one another to save space, and fill the space on top with more lightly scrunched paper. Make sure that you label these boxes as ‘delicate’ so that your movers know to add extra caution when shifting them.

4. Sort your pantry.

Packing is a great opportunity to sort through your pantry. Go through everything, and throw away anything that has passed its expiration date, and anything you haven’t used in the past twelve months. Anything you don’t want (or simply can’t see yourself using) that hasn’t expired can be donated to your local food bank or shelter. The rest should be packed with heavier items such as pasta sauces and tins, at the bottom, and lighter items towards the top.

Double check your chemical bottles, and if there’s only a fraction of liquid left in an open bottle, consider discarding it. Make sure that open bottles of liquid have been properly, and tightly sealed to prevent leakage, and if anything is less than half filled, consider if you should bring it with you, or discard it entirely.

5. Store your silverware by type

Silverware can easily damage the rest of your belongings, and can get lost far too easily. The best way to carefully sort through your silverware is to split them by type. Bundle all of your forks together with a rubber band, and wrap them with packing paper. Place them all within a shoebox, and tape this box closed to ensure that none of your silverware will escape during your move from one location to the next.

6. Disassemble your appliances.

If you happened to keep the boxes for your appliances, put them back into them, and tape them closed. Be sure to wash them thoroughly, and dry them off before packaging them. Clean out your coffee machine days before your move, and be sure to give it plenty of time to dry. Excess moisture will only creep into your boxes, and turn them so soggy that they will tear.

Keep all of your appliance’s odds and ends together. If you didn’t keep the boxes, tape the user manuals onto your items if you still have them so that assembly won’t take too long a time.