China, glassware and the kitchen

The kitchen and the china cabinet usually hold more fragile items than the rest of the home combined: plates, bowls, wine glasses, stemware, serving platters, the good china that comes out twice a year. All of it must be properly packed in boxes before it can go on a truck. Blankets protect furniture; they do nothing for a stack of plates. You have three ways to get there, and you can mix them.

Many customers pack their own kitchens to save money, and that works well with the right materials. Use dish-pack boxes, which are thicker and divided; wrap every piece in packing paper; stand plates on edge rather than flat; fill gaps so nothing shifts; and do not overload a box. Mark the boxes fragile and by room. Our team brings extra boxes on the truck on move day, charged as used, if you run short.

Our crew can pack just the kitchen and the china cabinet while you handle books and clothes. The packing time is billed at the hourly rate, and dish packs, paper and bubble wrap are charged as used from the price list attached to your quote. A move can also be split into two days, packing on day one and moving on day two, which keeps the kitchen usable until the last evening.

The Golden Package adds $70 per hour to the move and includes full packing service: all the supplies and all the packing labor, for the whole home. For a 3-mover team that is $175 plus $70, or $245 per hour, applied to the entire completion time. With full packing, the only thing we ask you to do in advance is pack your valuables and important documents yourself. You do not have to decide before the move: you can start at the standard rate and, at the end, compare the total with and without the package.

Empty the cabinet completely. Glass shelves come out and are packed as fragile items; glass doors are secured or removed where they are designed to come off. The cabinet is then wrapped in blankets and moved. A tall hutch often separates into a top and a base, which makes it lighter and safer; that disassembly is included in the hourly rate.

Stemmed glasses break at the stem, not the bowl. Wrap each one separately, fill the bowl with crumpled paper, and pack them upright in a divided box or a dish pack with cell dividers, the heaviest glassware at the bottom and the lightest on top. Never pack glasses loose next to plates. Mark the box this side up and fragile on two sides so it is loaded correctly.

• Two weeks out: rarely used serving pieces, holiday china, glassware you do not need.
• One week out: cookbooks, small appliances, pantry extras.
• Two days out: most dishes; keep one setting per person.
• Moving morning: the last plates, mugs and the coffee maker, in an open box.
• Food from the fridge and freezer travels with you, not us.