How to Pack a Kitchen for Moving (The Slowest Room, Solved)

Ask any crew: the kitchen is the room that's never done when they arrive. It's dense, fragile, and full of liquids that want to ruin everything else. Pack it days early — you can eat takeout; you can't un-shatter a shelf of glasses at midnight.

The packing order

1. **Rarely-used first:** bakeware, the stand mixer, vases, serving platters, the fondue set — a week out.
2. **Dishes and glasses next:** the full vertical-plates method — 2–3 days out.
3. **Pots, pans, and utensils:** nest pots with paper between, knives wrapped in towels and taped (label "SHARP").
4. **The last-morning kit:** one pan, kettle, two settings, sponge, dish soap — this box seals on move day.

The liquid problem

• Oils, vinegars, sauces: tape lids, bag each bottle, pack upright in a small bin — one leaked olive oil ruins a box stack
• Anything open and cheap: use it or lose it — moving half a bottle of soy sauce is never worth it
• The freezer: eat it down over 2 weeks; coolers only for the genuinely precious
• Alcohol has its own rules

Small appliances & the count

Original boxes are gold if you kept them; otherwise wrap appliances in towels and box them upright with cords bagged and taped to the unit. Reality check for planning: a typical NYC 1BR kitchen fills **8–12 small/medium boxes** and takes a full evening solo — or about an hour for a pro packing crew with dish barrels, which is the single best room to delegate.