diff --git a/meta-zephyr-core/conf/layer.conf b/meta-zephyr-core/conf/layer.conf
index 5afec0f..c04088f 100644
--- a/meta-zephyr-core/conf/layer.conf
+++ b/meta-zephyr-core/conf/layer.conf
@@ -20,3 +20,6 @@ LAYERSERIES_COMPAT_zephyrcore = "whinlatter"
 PYTHON3_NATIVE_SITEPACKAGES_DIR = "${libdir_native}/${PYTHON3_DIR}/site-packages"
 
 addpylib ${LAYERDIR}/lib oeqa
+
+PREFERRED_VERSION_zephyr-kernel ??= "4.1.0"
+PREFERRED_VERSION_zephyr-sdk ??= "0.16.9"
diff --git a/meta-zephyr-core/recipes-kernel/zephyr-kernel/zephyr-kernel-src.inc b/meta-zephyr-core/recipes-kernel/zephyr-kernel/zephyr-kernel-src.inc
index cf1b593..34b2cbe 100644
--- a/meta-zephyr-core/recipes-kernel/zephyr-kernel/zephyr-kernel-src.inc
+++ b/meta-zephyr-core/recipes-kernel/zephyr-kernel/zephyr-kernel-src.inc
@@ -10,6 +10,4 @@ inherit cmake
 # find the patch(es) in SRC_URI.
 FILESEXTRAPATHS:prepend := "${THISDIR}/files:"
 
-# Default to a stable version
-PREFERRED_VERSION_zephyr-kernel ??= "4.1.0"
 require recipes-kernel/zephyr-kernel/zephyr-kernel-src-${PREFERRED_VERSION_zephyr-kernel}.inc