Do I take kitchen items? (non-electric)

My kitchen stuff is either Pampered Chef, Tupperware, Kitchenaid and Calphalon. As you can imagine, I've invested quite a bit over the years in obtaining the good stuff.

What to bring? DH thinks we can buy all this stuff in Scotland. I know for a fact that the cost to replace this stuff is very pricey.

I'm having a international shipper put a quote together for me, we're meeting on Thursday.

Another option is unaccompanied baggage through BA.

Details:
Any item exceeding 32kg will need to be transported as unaccompanied baggage.
You can pre-arrange this through British Airways World Cargo or your local freight company.
Your baggage may or may not travel on the same flight as you.

I wouldn't take my full kitchen, just the essentials as I know I have anything and everything you could ever want in your kitchen.

We are having our house leased out in Dallas and will store a bunch of stuff. I don't want to get rid of all this and we're lucky enough to share a storage with my in-laws, so cost to store will be minimal.

Thoughts??

My thoughts, after having been here a year and a half:

YES.  If you cook as much as I do, then yes.  Mindful of costs, I moved over with just a few precious Pyrex dishes carefully packaged in bubble wrap in my suitcase, and stored the rest at my parents' house.  I've been back home five times since I moved (for our wedding, another wedding, a conference, and two Christmases) and each time I've spent god knows how much on extra baggage and shipping alike to try to get "just a few things I miss soooo much" back to England.  That doesn't count the times I've called my mom and begged her to ship something ("I'm telling you, I NEED that bundt pan!")  If I'd just shipped the lot to begin with, I'd have saved so much money! 

Yes, you can replace things here - but at a price.  And some things are impossible to find - my 3.5 litre Pyrex mixing bowl broke in transit (the only casualty, and one I mourn nearly daily) and I haven't been able to find anything to replace it after a year of searching. 

If I did things over again, I'd bring far fewer clothes and shoes and general knick-knacks (most of which still sit in boxes in the garage) and far more kitchenware - and the cats, of course! 

I too am thinking about all the things I intend to bring with me when I move to the UK and I can assure you, my expensive cookware is definitely coming with me.  It's going to be a huge adjustment when I move.  I at least want to surround myself with familiar things in the kitchen - a place I spend a lot of time.

What to bring? DH thinks we can buy all this stuff in Scotland.

I'm familiar with Tupperware, but have never seen it for sale anywhere in Scotland apart from once in a while a Tupperware dealer will pop up on this forum to say they're taking orders.

Pampered Chef?   I've only heard of it in the last year or two, and only on this forum... it's definitely not well-known in Scotland, and it might be hard to get hold of it.  I've never seen anyone selling it.

Kitchenaid -- once again, i've heard of it, but have never seen it for sale, and never seen it in any Scottish households... only TV chefs and Americans!

Calphalon -- I've never heard of this, or seen it for sale anywhere.

So, to your DH saying you can buy it all here... i would say, 'not necessarily'.   You might find it, you might not... but if you do, it will be expensive.

Kitchen Aid you can  buy on amazon here, I believe and that is one thing I'd leave if you dont want to mess w/ electricals. Everything else you should prob bring.

Definitely bring your Tupperware!! And if you have a cheese slicer bring that too!!

If you love to cook I would recommend you bring your stuff.  Tupperware is a must, it doesn't weigh so if you are paying for shipping by weight it is well worth it.  Don't forget your measuring cups and spoons.

I say bring it, if you like to cook, its worth it. I bought a Kitchenaid Mixer here to celebrate my "hey you just spent a years salary on a new kitchen" day and it cost about £300, in the states they are much cheaper!!! But I brought all my dishes from the states, and everytime my parents come for a visit, my mom buys me kitchenware. I love US kitchenware, its so cheap and much cuter (imo) than what we get here. If you can afford to bring it, bring it! And bring me some pampered chef stuff please!!!

As a fellow cook, I say definitely!!  I didn't need half the clothes I brought, but everyone mocked me for the kitchen stuff I brought.  I remember hearing all those lines "you know, we can get bowls in the UK too dear . . ."  I did leave my appliances since I didn't want to mess with the electric stuff.  I so miss all my cuisinart stuff, but I took all my nice mixing bowls and such and haven't regretted it one bit. 

I actually find myself wishing I had brought more of the kitchen stuff.  I only brought a few of my utensils for instance.  I brought the things that I really loved like my knife set, silicone spoon/spatula and my Mexican lime squeezer, but I left so much of the other stuff knowing if DH didn't have his own, they would be easily replacable, but the trick is they really aren't.  I mean, sure, you can find everyday kitchen stuff just fine, but our budget has been so tight.  The process of starting over in a new country doesn't leave tons of cash lying around, and I had years of building up all that small stuff.  I wish now I had brought more of my kitchen stuff.  I ended up having more room in my 100 cubic feet with U Pak We Ship than I thought I would and I HATE buying things I already owned.

Thank you everyone for your input.

Now, to help my husband understand that it's not ok to just move with a couple of suitcases and lets start our life. He's in the mindset that we should get rid of everything and pack our clothes and move. We can buy it all there. 

I don't plan on bringing anything electric as I don't want to deal with tranformers, converters, etc. Even though we are moving into a new house, I don't want to mess with electronics.

I'll miss all my electric gadgets. sniff sniff

Sure. A couple of suitcases, some clothes and about five thousand pounds to replace most of what you leave behind.

I don't plan on bringing anything electric as I don't want to deal with tranformers, converters, etc. Even though we are moving into a new house, I don't want to mess with electronics.

I'll miss all my electric gadgets. sniff sniff

FWIW, if there is something you really want to bring (I brought my KitchenAid mixer), there are some very reputable companies you can get a transformer from. I think I paid less than 60 quid for mine (I'd have to look again to see how much it was). I don't regret a penny of that and I could use it for other things if the voltage matched up. The company I used told me what kind of transformer I needed, they shipped it a couple days later, and it's a simple matter of plugging it in. No faffing about at all.

Just a little food for thought!!!

Sounds like DH needs to see that this is not an emotional issue, but a potentially expensive one.  I don't know where you are moving from, and of course prices are different than when I moved 4.5 years ago...but it cost me about $900 to ship 35 medium sized boxes (and maybe a couple were large, who remembers? ) from Los Angeles right to my door in London.  I brought books, clothes, pictures, household goods, MY stuff that helped me feel at home.  And I probably got rid of more stuff than I brought, so it was a still a good purge/new start feeling.  The shipment took its time.  I gave it to them beginning of September and I got it mid-November.  But I knew "my" stuff was coming so the wait was not a big deal.

I know for certain that to replace the non-sentimental things would have cost me way more than $900, and the sentimental things?  Very worth the shipping cost.  Especially now with the $2 to £1 exchange rate.

Balmerhon makes a very good point about the Kitchenaid mixer.  £60 for a transformer is a heck of a bargain because to buy a Kitchenaid mixer in the UK will set you back around £250-300.

To agree with everyone here:  bring it.  I am so glad I brought mine, and I continue to bring over things I forgot the first time. 

I definitely brought my Pampered Chef stuff with me and don't regret it at all!