Packing glass and china for storage without a single chip

Breakages in storage almost never happen in the unit. They happen in the first ten minutes: in the van, on the trolley, or when a box packed too heavy gives way at the bottom.

Use small boxes

Glass and china go in small, strong boxes. A medium box full of plates weighs more than you can lift safely, and the bottom will fail before the sides do. Six to ten small boxes cover the kitchen of most homes.

Paper, not newsprint

Plain packing paper does not mark. Newspaper ink rubs off onto everything and has to be washed off every plate. Crumple a layer of paper in the bottom of the box before anything goes in.

Plates on their edges

Wrap each plate and stand it on its edge, like records. Plates laid flat take the weight of everything above them; plates on edge share it. Bowls nest in threes with paper between.

Glasses rim-down

Stuff each glass with paper, wrap it, and stand it rim-down. Stems are the weak point, so wrap them twice. Fill every gap with crumpled paper until nothing moves when you shake the box gently.

Mark it and stack it last

Write FRAGILE and THIS WAY UP on the sides, not only on the top, and stack these boxes last, on top, at the front of the unit.