diff --git a/meta/classes/kernel.bbclass b/meta/classes/kernel.bbclass
index c29bd3d5f3..aca03fc071 100644
--- a/meta/classes/kernel.bbclass
+++ b/meta/classes/kernel.bbclass
@@ -231,8 +231,9 @@ UBOOT_LOADADDRESS ?= "${UBOOT_ENTRYPOINT}"
 # Some Linux kernel configurations need additional parameters on the command line
 KERNEL_EXTRA_ARGS ?= ""
 
-EXTRA_OEMAKE = " HOSTCC="${BUILD_CC}" HOSTCFLAGS="${BUILD_CFLAGS}" HOSTLDFLAGS="${BUILD_LDFLAGS}" HOSTCPP="${BUILD_CPP}""
-EXTRA_OEMAKE += " HOSTCXX="${BUILD_CXX}" HOSTCXXFLAGS="${BUILD_CXXFLAGS}" PAHOLE=false"
+EXTRA_OEMAKE += ' CC="${KERNEL_CC}" LD="${KERNEL_LD}"'
+EXTRA_OEMAKE += ' HOSTCC="${BUILD_CC}" HOSTCFLAGS="${BUILD_CFLAGS}" HOSTLDFLAGS="${BUILD_LDFLAGS}" HOSTCPP="${BUILD_CPP}"'
+EXTRA_OEMAKE += ' HOSTCXX="${BUILD_CXX}" HOSTCXXFLAGS="${BUILD_CXXFLAGS}" PAHOLE=false'
 
 KERNEL_ALT_IMAGETYPE ??= ""
 
@@ -375,7 +376,7 @@ kernel_do_compile() {
 		use_alternate_initrd=CONFIG_INITRAMFS_SOURCE=${B}/usr/${INITRAMFS_IMAGE_NAME}.cpio
 	fi
 	for typeformake in ${KERNEL_IMAGETYPE_FOR_MAKE} ; do
-		oe_runmake ${typeformake} CC="${KERNEL_CC}" LD="${KERNEL_LD}" ${KERNEL_EXTRA_ARGS} $use_alternate_initrd
+		oe_runmake ${typeformake} ${KERNEL_EXTRA_ARGS} $use_alternate_initrd
 	done
 }
 
@@ -407,7 +408,7 @@ do_compile_kernelmodules() {
 		bbnote "KBUILD_BUILD_TIMESTAMP: $ts"
 	fi
 	if (grep -q -i -e '^CONFIG_MODULES=y$' ${B}/.config); then
-		oe_runmake -C ${B} ${PARALLEL_MAKE} modules CC="${KERNEL_CC}" LD="${KERNEL_LD}" ${KERNEL_EXTRA_ARGS}
+		oe_runmake -C ${B} ${PARALLEL_MAKE} modules ${KERNEL_EXTRA_ARGS}
 
 		# Module.symvers gets updated during the 
 		# building of the kernel modules. We need to
@@ -591,7 +592,7 @@ sysroot_stage_all () {
 	:
 }
 
-KERNEL_CONFIG_COMMAND ?= "oe_runmake_call -C ${S} CC="${KERNEL_CC}" LD="${KERNEL_LD}" O=${B} olddefconfig || oe_runmake -C ${S} O=${B} CC="${KERNEL_CC}" LD="${KERNEL_LD}" oldnoconfig"
+KERNEL_CONFIG_COMMAND ?= "oe_runmake_call -C ${S} O=${B} olddefconfig || oe_runmake -C ${S} O=${B} oldnoconfig"
 
 python check_oldest_kernel() {
     oldest_kernel = d.getVar('OLDEST_KERNEL')
@@ -629,7 +630,7 @@ kernel_do_configure() {
 
 do_savedefconfig() {
 	bbplain "Saving defconfig to:\n${B}/defconfig"
-	oe_runmake -C ${B} LD='${KERNEL_LD}' savedefconfig
+	oe_runmake -C ${B} savedefconfig
 }
 do_savedefconfig[nostamp] = "1"
 addtask savedefconfig after do_configure