Before packing and moving kitchen appliances, assess whether to take each appliance with you based on factors like functionality, condition, warranty, and compatibility with your new home’s layout and agreements.
To safely move large appliances, gather essential packing materials including a utility dolly, packing paper, bubble wrap, furniture blankets, appliance dolly, straps, and packing tape to ensure secure transportation.
Packing small kitchen appliances involves ensuring they are clean and dry, separating detachable parts, using the original packaging if possible, arranging components by weight, filling empty space with packing material, and including user manuals for reassembly.
Ask 10 different people which household item they think is the most difficult one to move to a new home, and you will probably get 10 different answers.
Understandably, pool tables, pianos, hot tubs, big safes, queen-size beds, and plants will be among the possible answers as all those household items happen to be the usual suspects for the notorious prize.
However, large kitchen appliances such as refrigerators, washing machines, and cooking stoves can also present a huge challenge if you do decide to move any of them to a new place.
Smaller kitchen appliances such as coffee makers, stand mixers, toasters, blenders, air fryers, food processors, bread makers, rice cookers, sandwich makers, and of course – microwave ovens can also prove to be tricky for packing and moving, especially when you’re moving out for the first time.
Learn the best way to pack kitchen appliances for moving, including some practical tips for moving appliances safely to a new home.
Should you pack and move your large appliances?
You won’t be able to update your old kitchen appliances even if you connect them to your laptop, so decide what to do with them based on solid reasoning.
Before we move on to explain in detail the best way to pack appliances for moving, plus some practical tips for moving appliances easily and safely, let’s help you decide whether you should pack and move your major appliances at all.
Remember that the decision to take some home appliances with you or leave some of them behind should be reached after careful consideration of the special circumstances that surround your specific relocation.
Before such an informed decision can be made though, you need to be aware of what you will win and what you will lose in each case.
What you will win
Do consider moving a household appliance to your new home if any or most of the following pre-move scenarios appear to be true:
You have just purchased a household appliance and you like the way it fits your kitchen décor or the room it is currently installed in.
An appliance works like a top and has proven its practicality and convenience.
The manufacturer’s warranty of a large or small kitchen appliance has not expired yet.
You don’t have a newer and better appliance of the same type in your new home.
The purchase agreement or rental contract of the property you’re about to leave does not force you to leave behind the appliance in question.
What you will lose
You don’t really have to worry about how to pack kitchen appliances or even how to move major appliances if any of the following scenarios are valid for a piece of kitchen equipment:
If an appliance is rather old, too outdated, has technical problems or worse – it is plain broken, then you should just save valuable packing time and even more valuable relocation costs by just leaving it behind. Read on to learn what leaving it behind may mean.
The house or apartment you’re moving into is equipped with a much better and newer appliance of the same kind.
The size or design of a large kitchen appliance won’t fit or match the layout of your new home’s kitchen.
The purchase agreement or rental contract of the property you’re about to leave states that you cannot take a specific appliance with you.
Your informed decision to not pack an appliance and move it to your new home can mean that you are expected to do one of the following 4 things:
You do nothing. The major household appliance stays exactly where it is to be used by the new owners or renters.
You sell it. You attempt to sell it either at a profitable moving sale or online.
You give it away. You give it away to a friend, or a family member, or you decide to donate it to a charitable organization.
You get rid of it. You throw it away by taking it to a special recycling center that accepts household appliances.
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What to do before packing and moving kitchen appliances
Before you can get down to packing up and moving your appliances, you are strongly advised to take a couple of preparation steps to avoid potential packing problems and eventual property damage while you’re moving the heavy appliances out of your home.
1. Get packing supplies and moving equipment
A utility dolly will surely be your best helper when moving heavy appliances.
Before we talk about what packing materials and moving equipment you will need to move large appliances out of your home, load/unload them on a moving vehicle, and then wheel them inside your new residence, let’s just warn you that the entire relocation operation can easily prove to be more than you can possible handle with a few inexperienced friends.
The thing is that if you don’t have any previous experience in protecting and especially transporting bulky and heavy kitchen appliances, then the moving day safety can and probably will be severely compromised.
Just read on to get a better idea of whether you can pull off this tough task by yourself or whether hiring experienced professionals to get the job faster and more safely is the smart choice, as it often is, under the circumstances.
So, what packing materials and moving equipment do you need for packing and moving your major appliances?
Packing paper. It comes really handy when packing small appliances or when protecting smaller parts of large kitchen appliances.
Bubble wrap. Make sure you purchase at least one entire roll of the universally acknowledged protection of air-filled bubbles.
Furniture blankets. These large protective cloths offer an outstanding level of protection for your large appliances while the latter are on the move. You can purchase or rent them from your local moving company, or you can eventually substitute them for standard blankets if you can’t really afford genuine moving blankets.
Appliance dolly. Also known as a moving dolly, the wheeled assistant will prove indispensable during your quest to pack and move kitchen appliances without damaging your home, the appliance, or yourself. Consider renting a dolly from your local movers or even purchasing one from a home improvement store if you tend to move house often.
Straps. You need moving straps or a considerable length of rope to lift a heavy appliance until the dolly is slid underneath it, and to secure it well onto the wheeled helper during the move itself.
Packing tape. You’re going to need at least a few rolls of high-quality packing tape to keep everything in its rightful place – doors opening up during transport, moving blankets from unwrapping, power cords from dangling around, and so on.
2. Protect your property from untimely damage
Besides keeping yourself safe and your piece of household equipment intact, moving kitchen appliances without damaging the floors, walls or doors is also your top priority task. Moving house is an expensive affair as it is, so you wouldn’t be too thrilled to have to pay extra for possible repair work.
Regardless of the type of floor in your current home (hardwood, vinyl, tile), you need to protect it the best way you can. How?
Place large patches of thick cardboard or durable polyethylene covers along the exit route just to be on the safe side. The thick moving blankets wrapped around your kitchen appliances should cushion any undesirable contact with walls and doors/doorframes but if there are some really tight corners in your house or apartment, place extra protection directly over the endangered spots as well.
Review our packing tips once more because your large kitchen appliances are definitely not well protected for the relocation journey.
Once you make up your mind to move your kitchen appliances, you should have moved on to acquiring the necessary packing materials and moving equipment, and protecting your home against accident damage.
The next step to moving appliances the right way is to properly pack them for safe transportation.
Here’s the best way to pack kitchen appliances spelled out in logical and successive packing steps.
How to pack a refrigerator (freezer)
Unplug your refrigerator at least 48 hours before moving day and let it defrost completely after taking out whatever food supplies are left inside it.
Remove all fragile interior parts such as egg compartments, racks, dividers, etc., and pack them separately. Cleaning the removable parts of your fridge is optional as you will have to do it again upon arrival in your new home.
Clean the inside of the fridge well and let it dry out completely.
Secure the fridge door with tape on the day of the move to keep it shut at all times during transport. Be careful not to damage the surface of the appliance – using stretch wrap or masking tape is better in this case than using regular packing tape.
Secure the power cord at the back of the appliance to avoid dangerous situations.
Wrap several moving blankets along the entire body of the fridge (the exact number of pads depends on the dimensions of your fridge or freezer) and use strong tape or rope to keep the protective blankets in place.
Use an appliance dolly to get the fridge or freezer safely out of your home. How to move a refrigerator with a dolly? Once your refrigerator is securely packed up, load the heavy kitchen appliance onto the moving dolly with the help of at least three helpers and rope it tightly in order to immobilize it.
Exercise extreme caution. Refrigerators look robust and almost indestructible but the bitter truth is that they have rather delicate cooling mechanisms that can easily be damaged. Once secured on the dolly, make sure you keep your fridge as upright as possible during all stages of transportation. Do not tilt the kitchen appliance too much and do not lay it on its sides as that can cause oil from the compressor unit to flow into the cooling mechanism and damage it.
Leave the refrigerator unplugged for at least 3 full hours when the fridge reaches the safety of your new home. Why? You want to make sure that any oil that has escaped from the compressor has time to flow back to the place it belongs.
Still looking for that filter to clean it out? Consult the user manual of your washer.
This is how to prepare, pack up, and move your washing machine, dryer, or dishwasher.
Disconnect your washing machine from the power and turn off the water supply.
Disengage and drain all water hoses. Also, make sure no residual water remains inside the large appliance either by drying its interior with a soft cloth.
Tape the power cord and any hoses you haven’t removed from the machine at the back of the appliance. Remember that tripping on a loose cord or hose is a genuine risk when wheeling out your packed washing machine.
Close the door of your washer tightly.
Clean up the filter – you might as well do it now to save post-relocation time.
Make sure you secure the drum. Luckily, washers and dryers are much more resilient than fridges but they too have a weak spot – the drum. It’s imperative that the drum does not move during transportation and that must-do immobilization is usually achieved by a couple of specialized transportation rods. If you don’t know how to immobilize the drum of your washing machine, consult its operating manual or call the appliance store for assistance.
Wrap moving blankets along the entire length of the washer/dryer and tape them in place.
Use a moving dolly to take the washing machine, dryer, or dishwasher out of your place. How to move a washing machine with a dolly? With the help of at least three other persons, load the heavy kitchen appliance onto the dolly carefully and wrap it with moving straps or rope to avoid any dangerous shifts.
Remember to remove the transportation rods before turning on your washer upon arrival in your new residence.
Who would you rather ask for help when packing and moving your large kitchen appliances – Chef Smurf or Hefty Smurf?
If you own a gas stove, then it’s highly recommended that you call up a qualified technician to come to your home in order to disconnect the gas line properly.
Eliminate any chances of tripping over by taping the power cord at the back of your stove.
Take away, clean, and pack separately all removable parts from inside your cooking stove.
Place protective sheets of bubble wrap over any seemingly fragile and protruding elements of your kitchen appliance, such as glass sections and control knobs.
Use moving blankets once more – they will prove to be the best protection when packing kitchen appliances. Wrap and tape the thick protectors around your stove to minimize any possible transportation damage, as well as damage to your property.
Be extra careful while loading the appliance onto the dolly and later while wheeling it out towards the awaiting moving vehicle – the weight of a cooking unit can be staggering.
Hire a professional to reconnect the kitchen appliance back to the gas supply, if applicable in your case, upon arrival in your new home.
Don’t be fooled by the word small and devote enough time to pack your small kitchen appliances safely.
Packing small kitchen appliances for moving is a lot easier and safer than dealing with their heavy and bulky roommates.
In general, when packing microwave ovens, toasters, coffee makers, shakers, blenders, juicers, mixers, choppers, or any other type of food processors found in your kitchen, take advantage of the top 7 strategies when packing small appliances:
Ensure that your small kitchen appliances are 100% dry and clean before you pack them up for a move.
Remove any detachable parts from your small appliances and pack them separately but inside the same moving container as the main part.
Don’t skimp on additional bubble wrap and packing paper when protecting extra fragile and breakable components of a small appliance.
Always try to use the original packaging for home appliances as they provide the best overall protection during transportation. If you don’t keep the original boxes, then find ones with similar sizes.
Place the heavier components of a kitchen appliance at the bottom to avoid any chances of relocation damage, then arrange the lighter ones on the top.
Fill in any remaining space in the boxes with crumpled packing paper or even newsprint to immobilize the small kitchen appliances packed inside.
Place the user manual of each small appliance in its corresponding box to save time when putting the equipment back together after the move.
One thing to have in mind while weighing your options is that there’s a difference between packing and moving a couch and protecting and wheeling out a refrigerator.
While the first task is by no means an easy one, the decision to move a refrigerator by yourself, for example, can easily prove to be fatal for your trusted fridge /as explained above/, detrimental for specific parts of your home, or worst of all – painful for you or any other participant in the move.
All in all, the dangers of moving large appliances are numerous and are usually well hidden before they make up their minds to surprise you rather unpleasantly.
You need to remember that moving large appliances is no joke. While the best ways to pack kitchen appliances explained here will help you get your appliances ready to be transported safely and your property ready to make it without any considerable damage whatsoever, nothing and no one can actually guarantee your safety except an experienced team of packers and movers who will do the heavy and perilous job for you.
Should I move my kitchen appliances or leave them behind during a move?
The decision to move or leave behind kitchen appliances should be based on factors like the appliance’s functionality, condition, warranty status, and compatibility with your new home. Consider the convenience, aesthetics, and agreements associated with each appliance before making a choice.
How can I safely pack and move large kitchen appliances?
To ensure the safe transportation of large appliances, gather essential packing supplies such as utility dollies, packing paper, bubble wrap, furniture blankets, appliance dollies, straps, and packing tape. Follow specific instructions for each appliance, like defrosting refrigerators, securing doors, disconnecting power cords, and immobilizing drums. Professional assistance may be needed for particularly delicate appliances.
What’s the best way to pack small kitchen appliances for a move?
Packing small kitchen appliances is relatively easier. Make sure appliances are dry and clean before packing. Remove detachable parts and pack them together with the main unit. Use bubble wrap and packing paper to protect fragile components. Whenever possible, utilize the original packaging for optimal protection. Properly securing these appliances can help prevent damage during transportation.
Thanks for mentioning that it is often better to hire experienced professionals to move appliances. My brother is moving next month and is looking for a way to take his refrigerator with him. I will be sure to mention the safety and efficiency benefits associated with hiring an appliance moving professional so that he can save time and prevent potential damage.
My wife and I are moving next month and I want to make sure I have all my parts for my fridge on hand when moving. It’s good to know that you can use blankets to pack away smaller kitchen appliances. I’ll be sure to check appliance parts just in case we lose any parts during the move.
I have some suggestions to increase microwave oven life.
Never put any metal utensil or container and not even an object with metal trim inside the microwave.
Always remember to remove the aluminum foil from the food item before putting them inside the microwave to avoid any fire hazard.
Never heat any flammable food and beverage inside the microwave to avoid fire or explosion.
Do not heat any sealed food container or packed food or beverage item. Always remove the seal first and then heat items to avoid explosion.
When the microwave is in use, do not cover the top.
Clean the food spills and stains inside the microwave after every use to avoid any rotten smell.
It’s enlightening to know that even while major kitchen appliances may be a serious practical difficulty for anyone planning a residential move, you are not very likely to hear the phrases refrigerator, washing machine, or cooking stove. I’m remodeling my kitchen and am planning to upgrade my refrigerator with a newer more advanced model so I’ll be giving my old, still-functional one to my cousin who needs it for her apartment. I’ll advise her to hire a refrigerator mover for this though to guarantee that it’s safely transported to her place.
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Well , this really good advice about how to pack kitchen and main point how to do that really good! I reccomend to read anything else
Thanks for mentioning that it is often better to hire experienced professionals to move appliances. My brother is moving next month and is looking for a way to take his refrigerator with him. I will be sure to mention the safety and efficiency benefits associated with hiring an appliance moving professional so that he can save time and prevent potential damage.
My wife and I are moving next month and I want to make sure I have all my parts for my fridge on hand when moving. It’s good to know that you can use blankets to pack away smaller kitchen appliances. I’ll be sure to check appliance parts just in case we lose any parts during the move.
I have some suggestions to increase microwave oven life.
Never put any metal utensil or container and not even an object with metal trim inside the microwave.
Always remember to remove the aluminum foil from the food item before putting them inside the microwave to avoid any fire hazard.
Never heat any flammable food and beverage inside the microwave to avoid fire or explosion.
Do not heat any sealed food container or packed food or beverage item. Always remove the seal first and then heat items to avoid explosion.
When the microwave is in use, do not cover the top.
Clean the food spills and stains inside the microwave after every use to avoid any rotten smell.
It’s enlightening to know that even while major kitchen appliances may be a serious practical difficulty for anyone planning a residential move, you are not very likely to hear the phrases refrigerator, washing machine, or cooking stove. I’m remodeling my kitchen and am planning to upgrade my refrigerator with a newer more advanced model so I’ll be giving my old, still-functional one to my cousin who needs it for her apartment. I’ll advise her to hire a refrigerator mover for this though to guarantee that it’s safely transported to her place.