Moving your kitchen appliances? Here’s how MI-BOX residential moving units can make it quick and painless.
Everyone agrees that most kitchen appliances are heavy.
A major task during your move will be to pack and transport them safely to your new home. That requires careful and special handling if you decide to hire residential movers to assist you.
If you try to move your appliances without making sure you’re doing it right, you can cause lasting damage, which will require maintenance costs or replacement.
If where you’re moving to already comes with appliances or if you are ready to upgrade, considering recycling or donating your appliances isn’t a bad move. However, since we take them with us most of the time, you must know how to move them properly.
We’ll look at how to reduce risks revolving moving the most common appliances:
- Fridge
- Oven
- Dishwasher
We’ll also dive a bit into how you can save time, space, and effort by using MI-BOX’s portable moving solutions and renting a mobile storage unit that gets dropped on your front door and then delivered to your new home!
First, Reduce Risk and Disconnect Properly
First, we recommend professionals do this. Safely disconnecting bigger items like the oven and dishwasher should, ideally, be done with assistance.
As a note: some residential mover companies will offer to disconnect the appliances for you as an added service.
After disconnecting is done, comes moving the appliances. You can protect your flooring by placing a towel around and below the machine before moving it.
If you are unsure you can do it, we strongly recommend hiring a residential mover company to take care of the heavier loads. It will save you time and potential damage to you or your appliances.
How Do I Move A Fridge?
With enough preparation, moving a fridge is not hard. Here are the steps you need to follow:
- Empty Fridge
While removing all food and ice might sound obvious, many people don’t remove the trays and shelves, which can rock back and forth during the move, potentially bending and cracking depending on the material.
We also recommend wrapping the shelves and trays using towels and packing them. This will prevent further damage.
- Defrost Freezer
You don’t want to open the freezer door at your new home and have a bunch of water spilling out. If frost has built up, be sure to defrost it (which usually takes around 5-8 hours).
- Secure Fridge Doors
The moving day has come. Secure the fridge doors using a bungee cord or similar material to prevent them from opening while moving it.
- Move It Correctly
If there are stairs involved, DO NOT attempt to move the fridge on your own. Get a friend to help you. Ensure it is lying on its back during this short trip.
Once you get it out of the house, lie it on the side opposite to the door hinges to avoid straining the doors. Do not lie it on its back during transportation.
What About The Oven?
We’re assuming you have already read the manual and understand how to disconnect your oven (both gas and electric). There are many makes and models out there, so you need to know what to do with your particular oven during disconnection.
- Use a Dolly
Again, standard advice. Practically obvious. Still, you’d be surprised how many “tough people” actually attempt to lift or push it.
It never ends well. Use a dolly.
- Remove Any Detachable Pieces
Remove the burner pans and grates and pack them in a box together. This will avoid them getting dropped or damaged during the move, and it’ll be easier to find once you start unpacking.
We also recommend protecting them with towels or bubble wrap to protect them and labelling the box to avoid misplacement.
- Move It Correctly
Slide the oven out of its space in the wall with the dolly. Be sure to look carefully at the oven steady to prevent it from falling backwards and damaging your floor.
Moving The Dishwasher
Let’s get the obvious out of the way. You want the dishwasher to be empty when you move it. It’s heavy enough, and extra weight that would make the task even more challenging should be avoided.
Again, sounds obvious, but we have to put this in for the simple reason that we’ve encountered people that use the dishwasher as a container for part of their dishes and cutlery.
Now on to the steps:
- Unscrew The Dishwasher and Remove Parts
Dishwashers are often screwed to the kitchen by the sink. Find the set of screws embedding it in place, and remove them.
After that, remove the interior pieces that you can remove (i.e. racks, baskets, etc.) and pack them in a labelled box to prevent misplacement. This is done in order to avoid them from moving and damaging the dishwasher while being transported.
- Deal With The Hoses
The hoses connected to the appliance and the ones connected to the water lines must be removed and packed carefully.
Much like an oven, each dishwasher is its model, so refer to your manufacturer manual for instructions on how to do it correctly.
- Protect The Appliance
Before wheeling it out of your home with a dolly (yes, we will continue to insist on this), wrap the dishwasher in a towel, blanket or moving pad for protection. Tie it up around the dishwasher to prevent the wrapping material from shifting during the move.
It’s Out Of The Kitchen, Now What?
Are you renting a truck? Are you moving everything using your uncle’s van? Do they even have enough space to carry everything in a single trip?
Chances are, probably not. However, renting a storage unit using MI-BOX’s moving solutions can save time and effort!
Say goodbye to renting and driving trucks back and forth during the move and being pressured to do it quickly. With MI-BOX, you get a storage container delivered right to your doorstep.
What’s more, you get to keep it for as long as you need! That way, you don’t need to pressure yourself physically and mentally to get the moving tasks done, which means moving at your leisure.
Once you have everything stored, call us to pick it up and deliver it to your new home.
With MI-BOX, residential moving has never been this comfortable!
We have storage units of multiple sizes, so be sure to click here to see which one is capable of fitting your appliances and other belongings.
