diff --git a/roles/kubernetes-apps/meta/main.yml b/roles/kubernetes-apps/meta/main.yml
index aefc8d2a4..0ae4cec9d 100644
--- a/roles/kubernetes-apps/meta/main.yml
+++ b/roles/kubernetes-apps/meta/main.yml
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 ---
 dependencies:
+  - role: kubernetes-apps/utils
+
   - role: kubernetes-apps/ansible
     when:
       - inventory_hostname == groups['kube_control_plane'][0]
diff --git a/roles/kubernetes-apps/defaults/main.yml b/roles/kubernetes-apps/utils/defaults/main.yml
similarity index 100%
rename from roles/kubernetes-apps/defaults/main.yml
rename to roles/kubernetes-apps/utils/defaults/main.yml
diff --git a/roles/kubernetes-apps/utils/vars/main.yml b/roles/kubernetes-apps/utils/vars/main.yml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..9ce567414
--- /dev/null
+++ b/roles/kubernetes-apps/utils/vars/main.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+---
+_kubectl_apply_stdin:
+- "{{ kubectl }}"
+- apply
+- -f
+- "-"
+- -n
+- "{{ k8s_namespace }}"
+- --server-side="{{ server_side_apply | lower }}"
+# TODO: switch to default SSA
+server_side_apply: false
+kubectl_apply_stdin: "{{ _kubectl_apply_stdin | join(' ') }}"
diff --git a/roles/kubernetes-apps/vars/main.yml b/roles/kubernetes-apps/vars/main.yml
deleted file mode 100644
index b3c6c5bc6..000000000
--- a/roles/kubernetes-apps/vars/main.yml
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,2 +0,0 @@
----
-kubectl_apply_stdin: "{{ kubectl }} apply -f - -n {{ k8s_namespace }}"