We have had very good luck in moving my antiques and collections. I do not recommend UHaul boxes as they are not as heavy duty as from a moving company. Do buy the heavy dishpacks. I have used some of mine several times without a problem. I also don't care for bubble wrap except for cushioning the bottom and top. I buy new packing paper from a moving company or Uhaul is OK too. Crumple several sheets of paper and place on the bottom as a cushion or use bubble wrap here. Wrap 2 or 3 sheets around each plate and stand on edge, continue across the lowest rows. To insure it is packed tightly, crumple some of the paper and slip it all around the edge of the box and the dishes. Crumple a layer of papers over the top of the rows before you start the next level.The other pieces are also wrapped with a couple of sheets of paper and placed snuggly and as tightly as you can place them. Again place crumpled paper around the edges and over the top. Finish your box with more crumpled paper before it is closed and taped. I have never lost a piece in any of our moves and we have had 7 moves on the past 20 years. Even when we have commercial movers I pack my own. I watched the packers the first move we had and follow her method. The pieces will not move when they are packed snuggly. Do not use newspaper as the print will wear off onto your china. One of my objections to bubble wrap is that it takes up too much room and I never felt it was a snugg as when I used the packing paper. I tried it once and unpacked it because I ended up with extra boxes to ship. I collect china and glassware and hate to admit how much I have. LOL Good luck on your shipment. Call your insurance company and see if they can put a policy on it while it is being transported if it isn't being moved by family.

Most US residential households have 120V center-tapped two phase service (some big apartment buildings are different). Most European systems are 220V (confusingly called 230V) three phase service in a Wye configuration. The nominal difference between 220V and 240V is negligible in practice. All modern electric equipment is built to handle these small differences. If in doubt, check the appliance's documentation. Sometimes, you have to change a configuration option for optimal performance. Also, the difference between 50 Hz (Europe) and 60 Hz (US) is generally fine. You can in principle get away with smaller-size built-in transformers when using a European appliance in the US; and on the other hand, you'll drive any frequency synchronized equipment 20% too fast. It's unlikely this would affect your stove. And in fact, I'd expect the ratings plate to show you that the equipment is compatible with a range of frequencies. Some American 240V appliances use the center tap to drive a subset of the electronics at 120V and the rest at 240V. This is not really doable in Europe, and thus they don't require a 120V input. That's why you don't expect to see two hot wires and one neutral wire on these appliances, whereas American appliances frequently have that. Instead, you'll have one hot and one neutral. When you connect the appliance in the US, you'll instead connect it as if it had two hot wires. The neutral on the appliance becomes the second hot wire. This is not what the manufacturer expected, but it doesn't really matter much in practice. European equipment doesn't rely on polarized plugs (there is no such thing). So, it is always designed to be compatible with two hots, even if it never would be connected that way in Europe. The reason this sounds scary is that really old US equipment didn't distinguish between ground and neutral. In Europe, whole-house GFCI has been a standard for more than half a century. So, this was never an option. Neutral would never be connected to the chassis. So, even if the appliance has something that is labelled as neutral, it is fully interchangeable with the hot wire. This is all really basic physics. But electricians are frequently trained to memorize regulations instead of understanding the underlying principles. This makes it difficult for them to transfer knowledge from one domain to another one. My best suggestion is to find a different electrician who is more comfortable with cross-referencing both physics and local regulations. I can try to explain the physics, but you obviously need a trained electrician to figure out how to apply all of this so that it results in a safe and approved configuration. If your electrician regularly works with commercial equipment, he might be more comfortable with how electrical systems can be configured.

I think Europeans are used to hacking off plugs and putting on cheap standard plugs when they move around. In the U.S. though, 220V is generally used only for heavy-duty appliances, and the plugs tend to be heavy duty as well. Look at this one from Home Depot: http://www.homedepot.com/p/Pass-Seymour-15-Amp-250-Volt-NEMA-6-15P-Industrial-Grade-Plug-PS5666XCCV4/100206376 I don't think you would have to worry about this plug or its connections loosening up. It is a bit ugly to have sitting on your kitchen counter, though, which is why I decided to take a chance on a British outlet. There are 2 other possibilities, both of which I've tried and can vouch for. The first is a simple plug converter from Quick220.com: http://www.quick220.com/ADAP001.html I used this when I first wanted to prove that the kettle would work on American 220V, and the converter worked fine. Please note though, that it's not a transformer, and you'll still need a 220v circuit. Quick220 also makes devices that will plug into 2 off-phase 110V circuits and give you a 220V circuit. It's a bit of work finding 2 off-phase circuits, but the guy at Quick220 is very helpful and will walk you through it. If you don't want to have new circuits put in right away, this might be a better solution than using a transformer. Finally, you can get a custom extension cord made using a British receptacle on one end and an American plug on the other. I had one made at stayonline.com before we had our kitchen renovation done and it worked perfectly. The cost is about $42, depending on the length of cord ordered. If you're interested in this option, let me know and I'll walk you through how to do it. We don't plan on selling our house anytime soon, so putting things back to an American standard wasn't really a consideration for us. If we did sell the house, I suppose I would try to leave the socket as is and give the buyer a nice British kettle as a housewarming gift. Otherwise, the circuit could simply be disconnected at the breaker and the outlet tiled over. We don't use a food processor very much, but I can see how a British unit might be more powerful than an American one. Check the wattage to make sure. I had thought about getting additional UK outlets in our kitchen for a toaster and Nespresso machine, but the U.K. units were no more powerful than the American versions.

Susan asked many comments ago what roses I am drooling over. I had a gazebo installed yesterday and have been busy prepping the site and putting the cornerstones and center stone. WoW! Are Amish Country Gazebos amazing. The crew came at 8:30 in the morning and installed my 12' gazebo in 4 hours, they were on the road out of here at 12:30. I'm absolutely in love with the gazebo, so very well made! If anyone in the uS is in the market for a gazebo, pergola or pavilion, summerhouse or poolhouse I can highly recommend this company. I'm in California, so far from the manufacture in Pennsylvania but they delivered for free! Anyway back to roses...Some of the ones I see that I would love to have: Noisette Moschata, Papillon the tea, Bernard, Comte de Torres (Angel Gardens has one that looks much different than Ducher's, but they only show a bud so it is hard to judge), Comtesse Cecile de Chabrillant, and now my computer is centering everything for some bizarre reason so I will stop there. Anything pinkish floppy button-eyed, and tissue paper like :)