How to pack your kitchen for a move — a practical guide

The kitchen is the most time-consuming room to pack in any home. It has the most fragile items, the most awkward shapes, the most liquids that can leak, and the most things you keep using right up until moving day. This guide covers every category specifically — not a generic checklist, but the actual techniques that prevent breakage and make unpacking manageable. If you want the kitchen professionally packed instead, our Ottawa packing services team handles everything from dish packs to appliance wrapping.

Before You Start Packing: Cull First

The kitchen should be packed last among your rooms, because you’ll keep using it until the day before the move. But the preparation — deciding what’s coming with you — should happen early.

Go through every cabinet and drawer with a realistic eye. Most kitchens contain appliances that haven’t been used in years, duplicate utensils accumulated over time, and food items that won’t survive the move. Every item you don’t pack is a box you don’t carry, a minute of loading time you save, and space you don’t need to find in the new place.

Decisions to make before a box is opened:

• Appliances you haven’t used in over a year — the bread maker, the fondue set, the second slow cooker
• Duplicates — most people accumulate two of things like spatulas, wooden spoons, and can openers
• Pantry items that won’t survive a move — open bags of flour or sugar, anything past its date, spices that are years old
• Containers without matching lids and lids without matching containers
• Anything broken that you’ve been meaning to replace

Non-perishable pantry items in good condition can be donated to the Ottawa Food Bank — they have drop-off bins at grocery stores across the city. Small appliances in working order sell quickly on Facebook Marketplace or Kijiji in the days before a move. Our pre-move decluttering guide and Ottawa donation guide cover where to take what.

What Supplies You Actually Need

The kitchen requires more specialised packing materials than any other room. Getting the right supplies before you start saves time and breakage.

What to have before you start:

• Dish boxes — double-walled boxes designed specifically for kitchenware. Worth the extra cost for plates and stemware because the added structure prevents side compression.
• Packing paper — unprinted newsprint or purpose-made packing paper. More versatile than bubble wrap for wrapping irregular shapes and filling voids.
• Bubble wrap — for stemware, glass lids, and anything with a curved surface that packing paper alone won’t cushion.
• Small and medium boxes — small for heavy items like cast iron and canned goods; medium for general kitchenware.
• Zip-lock bags — for screws, small parts, loose lids, spice packets, and appliance accessories.
• Stretch wrap — for bundling utensils, keeping pot lids on, and wrapping items you want to keep together.
• Permanent marker and tape — for labelling every box clearly on two sides.

Tea towels, cloth napkins, oven mitts, and dish cloths all work as padding material. Using them to wrap fragile items reduces how much packing paper you need and makes sure every soft textile has a purpose during packing — just make sure the item wrapped is clean and dry before you wrap it in fabric.

For a typical two to three person kitchen, plan on six to ten medium boxes, two to four dish boxes, and one clearly labelled open-first box. Use our moving box calculator to estimate your total box count before you start sourcing supplies. If your kitchen is larger or you cook regularly, add boxes rather than overfilling what you have — a box that’s too heavy is more likely to be dropped and more likely to compress fragile items at the bottom.

Packing Plates, Bowls, and Glassware

Broken dishes are the most common kitchen packing casualty and almost always preventable. The two mistakes that cause most breakage are packing plates flat and leaving voids in the box.

Plates and bowls

Pack plates vertically — standing on their edge, like records in a crate, not stacked flat. A plate stacked flat transfers the weight of everything above it directly onto the plate below. A plate standing vertically distributes pressure along its strongest structural axis. Wrap each plate individually in packing paper before packing.

Put a thick layer of crumpled paper at the bottom of the box before any plates go in. Group wrapped plates in sets of three or four, stand them vertically, and fill any gaps between groups with crumpled paper. There should be no movement inside the box when you shake it — if there is, add more paper.

Bowls nest with paper between each one and pack well in medium boxes. Serving platters and large flat dishes should go in dish boxes, individually wrapped, standing vertically.

Glasses and stemware

Glasses are best packed in cellular divider boxes — cardboard inserts that give each glass its own cell. If you don’t have dividers, wrap each glass individually in bubble wrap starting at the base and spiralling upward, then wrap again in packing paper. Pack upright, not upside down. Fill the interior of each glass with crumpled paper before wrapping — this prevents the sides from being crushed inward.

Wine glasses and stemware need extra attention at the stem. Wrap the stem first with a few layers of bubble wrap, then wrap the bowl, then finish with paper. Pack these in a dish box rather than a standard moving box.

Label these boxes on all four sides, not just the top: “Fragile — Glassware — This Side Up.” Boxes get rotated during loading. A label on two sides means at least one is visible regardless of how the box is oriented in the truck.

Pots, Pans, and Bakeware

Cast iron, stainless steel, and ceramic cookware is heavy but generally not fragile — the exception being ceramic and enamel finishes that chip if pieces bang together during transit.

Pack pots and pans in small boxes — not because they’re fragile but because they’re heavy, and a medium box full of cast iron will be too heavy to carry safely. Nest smaller pots inside larger ones with a layer of paper between them to prevent scratching. Lids should be wrapped separately and packed on their side, not balanced on top of pots where they can shift and chip.

Bakeware — sheet pans, loaf tins, muffin trays — stacks well and packs efficiently. Put a sheet of paper between each piece to prevent scratching. These can go in medium boxes with other lightweight kitchen items.

Non-stick surfaces need protection — wrap non-stick pans in packing paper or a tea towel to prevent other items from scratching the coating during transit.

Small Appliances

The golden rule for small appliances is original packaging is the best packaging. If you kept the box and foam inserts for your stand mixer, blender, or food processor, use them. If you didn’t — and most people haven’t — here’s how to pack them safely.

Prep every appliance before boxing:

• Empty all water reservoirs — kettles, coffee makers, steam irons, humidifiers
• Remove and bag all detachable parts — blades, attachments, carafes, filter holders
• Wrap sharp blades separately and label the package clearly
• Coil cords loosely and secure with a twist tie or rubber band — don’t wrap them tightly around the appliance body
• Put small screws, feet, and accessories in a labelled zip-lock bag and tape it to the appliance or place it in the same box

Wrap the appliance body in bubble wrap, then in packing paper. Pack in a box that fits reasonably closely — too much space around an appliance means it shifts during transit. Fill voids with crumpled paper or soft kitchen textiles. Label the box with the appliance name so you don’t unbox six things looking for the coffee maker on day one.

The coffee maker goes in the open-first box, not in a regular packed box. You will want it before you want anything else in the kitchen.

The Fridge and Freezer

The refrigerator and freezer need preparation that starts 24 to 48 hours before moving day — not on the morning of the move.

Fridge and freezer prep timeline:

• 48 hours out: Stop buying perishables. Start using up fridge and freezer contents deliberately.
• 24 hours out: Turn off the fridge and freezer and leave the doors open to begin defrosting. Remove all shelves and drawers — pack these separately, wrapped in paper, in a clearly labelled box.
• Morning of the move: Wipe out any remaining moisture with towels. Tape the doors closed with painter’s tape — not permanent tape — before the movers load it. The doors should stay closed during transport to prevent them swinging open and damaging hinges or surroundings in the truck.
• At the new place: Let the fridge stand upright for at least two hours before plugging in. If it was tilted or laid down during transport, wait four hours. Turning on a compressor before the oil has settled back to its normal position can damage it permanently.

Do not pack food inside the fridge for transport. Weight inside the fridge during transit puts stress on the shelving supports and can damage the interior. If you’re moving a small amount of refrigerated items for a local move, use a cooler.

Pantry, Food, and Liquids

Food is the category most people handle worst when packing a kitchen. The default is to box everything and deal with it later — which results in broken jars, leaked oil, and a box that smells like vinegar when you open it at the new place.

What to move and what to leave

For a local Ottawa move, you can transport sealed non-perishables without issue — canned goods, sealed dry goods, unopened bottles. Open packages of flour, sugar, rice, and similar items are not worth moving — the bags are rarely sealed well enough to survive being jostled in a box, and the weight isn’t worth it. Donate them to the Ottawa Food Bank or use them up before the move.

For long-distance moves, the calculus is clearer — almost no food is worth transporting. The weight increases your costs and the transit time introduces spoilage risk. Donate generously before a long-distance move.

Packing liquids

Bottles of oil, vinegar, soy sauce, and similar liquids need to be upright and protected from tipping. Seal the cap with plastic wrap or a zip-lock bag before closing the bottle, then pack upright in a box lined with a garbage bag — so that if anything does leak, it’s contained. Pack liquids in a separate box from dry goods so a leak doesn’t ruin an entire box of food.

Canned goods and heavy pantry items

Pack canned goods in small boxes — a medium box full of cans will exceed 25 kilograms and is a back injury risk for movers. Mix cans with lighter pantry items to keep box weight manageable.

Knives and Sharp Items

Knives are a safety hazard during packing and unpacking if they’re not handled properly. Never pack knives loosely in a box where someone reaching in can cut themselves.

The best approach for a knife block is to move it as a unit — wrap the entire block in stretch wrap or bubble wrap with the knives in their slots. For individual knives without a block, wrap each blade in several layers of packing paper, fold the paper back over the tip, and tape it securely. Label the package clearly as “Knives — open carefully.”

Grater inserts, mandoline blades, food processor cutting discs, and box graters should all be treated the same way — wrapped individually with the cutting edges covered and clearly labelled.

Your Kitchen Open-First Box

The open-first box is the one box that travels in your car rather than on the truck, and that you open before anything else. For the kitchen, it should contain everything you need to function for the first 24 hours without unpacking a single other box. Full guidance is on our open-first box checklist page — here’s the kitchen portion:

• Coffee maker or kettle — and coffee or tea
• One mug per person
• One plate and one set of cutlery per person
• One small pot or pan
• Dish soap and a sponge
• A dish towel and a roll of paper towels
• Scissors or a box cutter for opening other boxes
• A couple of easy meals or snacks that don’t need refrigeration
• A can opener if any of those meals are canned

Keep this box small enough to carry yourself. If it’s too heavy, it’s too full. The point is not to replicate your kitchen on day one — it’s to have exactly what you need to make coffee, eat something, and get through the first evening without digging through boxes.

Ottawa-Specific Kitchen Packing Considerations

Cold weather and kitchen items

Ottawa winters are genuinely cold. Ceramic and glass items that have been sitting in a warm kitchen and then spend time in an unheated truck during a January move can experience thermal shock — the sudden temperature change causes stress fractures that may not be visible immediately but weaken the piece. For a winter move in Ottawa, wrap ceramics and glassware more thoroughly than you think necessary, and bring the most fragile items in your heated car rather than on the truck.

Liquids in the kitchen — oils, vinegars, anything water-based — can freeze in a truck during an extreme cold Ottawa day. Pack them together and ask that the box go in your vehicle rather than in the unheated cargo area if temperatures are below -15°C.

Condo and apartment moves

If you’re moving out of or into an Ottawa condo or apartment — particularly in Centretown, Westboro, or along the LRT corridor — the kitchen packing itself doesn’t change, but the logistics around the heaviest and most awkward kitchen items do. A stand mixer, a large cast iron collection, or a full-size blender that you’d normally carry straight to a car needs to go through a service elevator, along a building corridor, and out to a truck that may be staged on the street rather than directly outside the door.

Pack heavy kitchen items in smaller boxes than you think necessary. A box that’s manageable in a driveway becomes a problem after 50 metres of corridor and an elevator ride. Label every kitchen box clearly so the crew can identify the heavy ones and plan carries accordingly. Our guide to booking a service elevator in Ottawa covers what to arrange in advance for these buildings.

Frequently Asked Questions

Ottawa Food Bank food donation information verified from ottawafoodbank.ca. Accepted items and drop-off locations subject to change — confirm current details at ottawafoodbank.ca/donate/donate-food/ before donating.