Dish-pack boxes for plates, glasses and china

Kitchens cause more broken goods than any other room, because plates, glasses and bowls are small, heavy and sharp-edged at the same time. The carton that holds them has to resist a crushing load from above and a squeeze from the sides. That is the job a dish-pack box is built for. This page explains what the carton is for, how to fill it so nothing touches anything else, and where to get one in Sparks.

At a glance

• Made for plates, glasses, bowls and china
• Packed one piece at a time, on edge
• Sold at the O'Brien's office, 2277 Glendale Ave, Sparks
• 10 free heavy-duty boxes with the in-home estimate

What a dish-pack box is for

A dish-pack box holds the tableware that would not survive an ordinary carton. The walls are thicker than a standard box, so the carton keeps its shape when other boxes are stacked on it in a truck or a vault. Plates, saucers, glasses, cups, bowls and small serving pieces belong in this carton, along with anything else that is heavy and breakable. Cookware, small appliances and canned goods are better in a plain heavy-duty box.

O'Brien's carries a full line of regular and specialty boxes, and the dish-pack style is one of the specialty cartons people ask for most often when they pack a kitchen themselves.

How to pack a dish-pack box

Start with a base. Crumple several sheets of packing paper and press them into the bottom of the carton so it has a soft floor. Then wrap each piece on its own, working from the corner of a stack of sheets toward the center, and tuck the ends in.

1. Pad the floor of the box with crumpled paper.
2. Wrap each plate on its own, then bundle three or four wrapped plates in one more sheet.
3. Stand the bundles on their edges, never flat. A plate on edge takes a bump far better than a plate laid flat.
4. Put the heaviest items on the bottom layer and the lighter bowls and cups on the layer above.
5. Wrap glasses and cups singly, with extra paper stuffed inside each one.
6. Fill every gap with crumpled paper until a gentle shake moves nothing, then add a top layer of paper.
7. Tape the seams, label the lid with the room and the word FRAGILE, and mark which side is up.

Paper and tape that go with the carton

A dish-pack box is only as good as the paper inside it. Plain unprinted packing paper wraps cleanly and leaves no ink on china. Our packing paper page covers how much a kitchen tends to use, and the tape page explains how to seal the carton so it stays shut under weight.

Pick up your supplies in Sparks

Boxes, wrapping supplies and tape are on hand at the O'Brien's office at 2277 Glendale Ave in Sparks, open Monday to Friday, 8 am to 5 pm. Standard and custom supply price sheets are available when you ask. Call 775-359-6683 if you want to know what is on the shelf before you drive over.

When an O'Brien's estimator visits your home, the visit comes with 10 free heavy-duty boxes that are yours to keep, whether or not you book the move. Many customers use them for pots, pans and small appliances and buy dish-pack cartons for the fragile tableware. Use the packing calculator to see how many kitchen boxes your home is likely to need.

Let the crew pack the kitchen instead

Some people pack the closets and books and hand the kitchen to professionals. O'Brien's crews wrap and pack dishes every working day, and the choice is written on your estimate. See partial packing, or how to pack dishes for a longer walk through the kitchen.