diff --git a/pkg/kubelet/config/BUILD b/pkg/kubelet/config/BUILD
index 37e72d75e2..6985adfdd1 100644
--- a/pkg/kubelet/config/BUILD
+++ b/pkg/kubelet/config/BUILD
@@ -108,6 +108,8 @@ go_test(
         "//pkg/apis/core:go_default_library",
         "//pkg/apis/core/v1:go_default_library",
         "//pkg/apis/core/validation:go_default_library",
+        "//pkg/kubelet/checkpoint:go_default_library",
+        "//pkg/kubelet/checkpointmanager:go_default_library",
         "//pkg/kubelet/types:go_default_library",
         "//pkg/securitycontext:go_default_library",
         "//vendor/github.com/stretchr/testify/assert:go_default_library",
diff --git a/pkg/kubelet/config/config.go b/pkg/kubelet/config/config.go
index 6ffb448254..51c2e29c54 100644
--- a/pkg/kubelet/config/config.go
+++ b/pkg/kubelet/config/config.go
@@ -113,17 +113,20 @@ func (c *PodConfig) Sync() {
 
 // Restore restores pods from the checkpoint path, *once*
 func (c *PodConfig) Restore(path string, updates chan<- interface{}) error {
-	var err error
-	if c.checkpointManager == nil {
-		c.checkpointManager, err = checkpointmanager.NewCheckpointManager(path)
-		if err != nil {
-			pods, err := checkpoint.LoadPods(c.checkpointManager)
-			if err == nil {
-				updates <- kubetypes.PodUpdate{Pods: pods, Op: kubetypes.RESTORE, Source: kubetypes.ApiserverSource}
-			}
-		}
+	if c.checkpointManager != nil {
+		return nil
 	}
-	return err
+	var err error
+	c.checkpointManager, err = checkpointmanager.NewCheckpointManager(path)
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	pods, err := checkpoint.LoadPods(c.checkpointManager)
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	updates <- kubetypes.PodUpdate{Pods: pods, Op: kubetypes.RESTORE, Source: kubetypes.ApiserverSource}
+	return nil
 }
 
 // podStorage manages the current pod state at any point in time and ensures updates
@@ -311,6 +314,9 @@ func (s *podStorage) merge(source string, change interface{}) (adds, updates, de
 		}
 	case kubetypes.RESTORE:
 		glog.V(4).Infof("Restoring pods for source %s", source)
+		for _, value := range update.Pods {
+			restorePods = append(restorePods, value)
+		}
 
 	default:
 		glog.Warningf("Received invalid update type: %v", update)
diff --git a/pkg/kubelet/config/config_test.go b/pkg/kubelet/config/config_test.go
index deb1f4dcaf..f41542a9a6 100644
--- a/pkg/kubelet/config/config_test.go
+++ b/pkg/kubelet/config/config_test.go
@@ -17,7 +17,9 @@ limitations under the License.
 package config
 
 import (
+	"io/ioutil"
 	"math/rand"
+	"os"
 	"reflect"
 	"sort"
 	"strconv"
@@ -30,6 +32,9 @@ import (
 	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/types"
 	"k8s.io/client-go/kubernetes/scheme"
 	"k8s.io/client-go/tools/record"
+	"k8s.io/kubernetes/pkg/apis/core"
+	"k8s.io/kubernetes/pkg/kubelet/checkpoint"
+	"k8s.io/kubernetes/pkg/kubelet/checkpointmanager"
 	kubetypes "k8s.io/kubernetes/pkg/kubelet/types"
 	"k8s.io/kubernetes/pkg/securitycontext"
 )
@@ -85,6 +90,14 @@ func CreatePodUpdate(op kubetypes.PodOperation, source string, pods ...*v1.Pod)
 	return kubetypes.PodUpdate{Pods: pods, Op: op, Source: source}
 }
 
+func createPodConfigTesterByChannel(mode PodConfigNotificationMode, channelName string) (chan<- interface{}, <-chan kubetypes.PodUpdate, *PodConfig) {
+	eventBroadcaster := record.NewBroadcaster()
+	config := NewPodConfig(mode, eventBroadcaster.NewRecorder(scheme.Scheme, v1.EventSource{Component: "kubelet"}))
+	channel := config.Channel(channelName)
+	ch := config.Updates()
+	return channel, ch, config
+}
+
 func createPodConfigTester(mode PodConfigNotificationMode) (chan<- interface{}, <-chan kubetypes.PodUpdate, *PodConfig) {
 	eventBroadcaster := record.NewBroadcaster()
 	config := NewPodConfig(mode, eventBroadcaster.NewRecorder(scheme.Scheme, v1.EventSource{Component: "kubelet"}))
@@ -413,3 +426,29 @@ func TestPodUpdateLabels(t *testing.T) {
 	expectPodUpdate(t, ch, CreatePodUpdate(kubetypes.UPDATE, TestSource, pod))
 
 }
+
+func TestPodRestore(t *testing.T) {
+	tmpDir, _ := ioutil.TempDir("", "")
+	defer os.RemoveAll(tmpDir)
+
+	pod := CreateValidPod("api-server", "kube-default")
+	pod.Annotations = make(map[string]string, 0)
+	pod.Annotations["kubernetes.io/config.source"] = kubetypes.ApiserverSource
+	pod.Annotations[core.BootstrapCheckpointAnnotationKey] = "true"
+
+	// Create Checkpointer
+	checkpointManager, err := checkpointmanager.NewCheckpointManager(tmpDir)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("failed to initialize checkpoint manager: %v", err)
+	}
+	if err := checkpoint.WritePod(checkpointManager, pod); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("Error writing checkpoint for pod: %v", pod.GetName())
+	}
+
+	// Restore checkpoint
+	channel, ch, config := createPodConfigTesterByChannel(PodConfigNotificationIncremental, kubetypes.ApiserverSource)
+	if err := config.Restore(tmpDir, channel); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("Restore returned error: %v", err)
+	}
+	expectPodUpdate(t, ch, CreatePodUpdate(kubetypes.RESTORE, kubetypes.ApiserverSource, pod))
+}