Why kitchens are deceptively hard
A kitchen looks like a small room with a finite number of items. In practice it has more fragile pieces than any other room, daily-use items you cannot pack until the morning of, and at least one drawer of things you cannot identify but cannot bring yourself to throw out.
The trick is to stop treating it as one big project. It is eight or ten small cabinet-sized projects, each of which fits in 30 to 45 minutes.
The cabinet-by-cabinet method
Pack one cabinet completely before opening the next. Tape the box, label it, and put it in the “done” stack before you move on. This sounds obvious but most people empty three cabinets onto the counter, get overwhelmed, and stop.
Work in this order, top to bottom:
- High cabinets you rarely open. Holiday platters, special-occasion serving pieces, pasta machines. Start here because you can pack this cabinet days ahead and not miss anything.
- The bakeware drawer. Cake pans, muffin tins, casserole dishes. Most people use these once a month, easy to live without.
- Cookbooks. Stack them in a small box. Heavy, but easy.
- Glassware. Wine glasses, water glasses, drinking glasses. Wrap each in packing paper or newsprint, pack standing up, fill the box.
- Plates and bowls. Plates go on edge, not flat. Wrap each one in paper, stack vertically in a small box. Bowls nest with paper between them.
- Mugs. Each in paper, packed in a medium box. Fill empty space with crumpled paper so they do not shift.
- Small appliances. Toaster, food processor, blender. If you have the original boxes, use them. Otherwise wrap in towels (which you also need to pack).
- Cookware. Pots and pans, nested with paper or towels between. Lids in a separate small box.
- Utensils. Knives go in a knife block or wrapped in cardboard. Everything else in zip-top bags by type (spatulas, ladles, etc.).
- The pantry. Unopened items in boxes. Opened spices in a separate small box. Anything expired goes in the trash.
Hour by hour timeline
- 8 AM · 9:30 AM — High cabinets, bakeware, cookbooks (steps 1 to 3 above)
- 9:30 AM · 11 AM — Glassware (step 4). This is the biggest single block.
- 11 AM · 12 PM — Plates and bowls (step 5)
- 12 PM · 1 PM — Lunch break and pantry triage
- 1 PM · 2:30 PM — Mugs, small appliances (steps 6 to 7)
- 2:30 PM · 4 PM — Cookware, utensils, knives (steps 8 to 9)
- 4 PM · 5 PM — Pantry, fridge inventory for what stays vs what goes (step 10)
What to leave out until the morning of
The morning-of essentials box holds the things you used yesterday:
- Coffee maker or kettle, mugs for the household, coffee or tea
- One pan, one pot, one spatula, one set of tongs
- Two plates, two bowls, two sets of silverware per person
- Dish soap, a sponge, a dishtowel
- Salt, pepper, olive oil
This box is the last to be packed (morning of) and the first to be unpacked at the new place. Label it clearly so movers know.
The Smart Leave feature in the goCubify app flags kitchen items where shipping costs more than replacement. Old non-stick pans, mismatched plastic storage, that bread machine you used twice. The math is often surprising — details in our what to leave behind guide.
Common mistakes
Packing dishes flat. They crack from the weight above. Always pack on edge.
Skipping the pantry. Half-full spice jars and opened olive oil are not worth shipping. They are also not worth a packing tape, paper, and a box.
One giant box. A box of dishes weighs more than you think. Use a small or medium box. Large boxes are for light items like linens, lampshades, and pillows.
Forgetting to drain coffee machines. The reservoir water is not labeled but it leaks all over a box.