diff --git a/features/envvar.go b/features/envvar.go
index d67c2adc9..93aa21fa7 100644
--- a/features/envvar.go
+++ b/features/envvar.go
@@ -157,6 +157,13 @@ func (f *envVarFeatureGates) set(featureName Feature, featureValue bool, allowCh
 // read from the corresponding environmental variable.
 func (f *envVarFeatureGates) getEnabledMapFromEnvVar() map[Feature]bool {
 	f.readEnvVarsOnce.Do(func() {
+		// This code does not really support contextual logging. Making it do so has huge
+		// implications for several call chains because the Enabled call then needs
+		// a `*WithLogger` variant. This does not matter in Kubernetes itself because
+		// all Kubernetes components replace the feature gate implementation used
+		// by client-go, but it might matter elsewhere.
+		logger := klog.Background()
+
 		featureGatesState := map[Feature]bool{}
 		for feature, featureSpec := range f.known {
 			featureState, featureStateSet := os.LookupEnv(fmt.Sprintf("KUBE_FEATURE_%s", feature))
@@ -166,10 +173,10 @@ func (f *envVarFeatureGates) getEnabledMapFromEnvVar() map[Feature]bool {
 			boolVal, boolErr := strconv.ParseBool(featureState)
 			switch {
 			case boolErr != nil:
-				utilruntime.HandleError(fmt.Errorf("cannot set feature gate %q to %q, due to %v", feature, featureState, boolErr))
+				utilruntime.HandleErrorWithLogger(logger, boolErr, "Could not set feature gate", "feature", feature, "desiredState", featureState)
 			case featureSpec.LockToDefault:
 				if boolVal != featureSpec.Default {
-					utilruntime.HandleError(fmt.Errorf("cannot set feature gate %q to %q, feature is locked to %v", feature, featureState, featureSpec.Default))
+					utilruntime.HandleErrorWithLogger(logger, nil, "Could not set feature gate, feature is locked", "feature", feature, "desiredState", featureState, "lockedState", featureSpec.Default)
 					break
 				}
 				featureGatesState[feature] = featureSpec.Default
@@ -182,10 +189,10 @@ func (f *envVarFeatureGates) getEnabledMapFromEnvVar() map[Feature]bool {
 
 		for feature, featureSpec := range f.known {
 			if featureState, ok := featureGatesState[feature]; ok {
-				klog.V(1).InfoS("Feature gate updated state", "feature", feature, "enabled", featureState)
+				logger.V(1).Info("Feature gate updated state", "feature", feature, "enabled", featureState)
 				continue
 			}
-			klog.V(1).InfoS("Feature gate default state", "feature", feature, "enabled", featureSpec.Default)
+			logger.V(1).Info("Feature gate default state", "feature", feature, "enabled", featureSpec.Default)
 		}
 	})
 	return f.enabledViaEnvVar.Load().(map[Feature]bool)
diff --git a/features/features.go b/features/features.go
index cabb7468d..f21511dca 100644
--- a/features/features.go
+++ b/features/features.go
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ limitations under the License.
 package features
 
 import (
-	"errors"
+	"context"
 	"sync/atomic"
 
 	utilruntime "k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/util/runtime"
@@ -127,7 +127,9 @@ func AddVersionedFeaturesToExistingFeatureGates(registry VersionedRegistry) erro
 //	clientgofeaturegate.ReplaceFeatureGates(utilfeature.DefaultMutableFeatureGate)
 func ReplaceFeatureGates(newFeatureGates Gates) {
 	if replaceFeatureGatesWithWarningIndicator(newFeatureGates) {
-		utilruntime.HandleError(errors.New("the default feature gates implementation has already been used and now it's being overwritten. This might lead to unexpected behaviour. Check your initialization order"))
+		// TODO (?): A new API would be needed where callers pass in a context or logger.
+		// Probably not worth it.
+		utilruntime.HandleErrorWithContext(context.TODO(), nil, "The default feature gates implementation has already been used and now it's being overwritten. This might lead to unexpected behaviour. Check your initialization order.")
 	}
 }
 
diff --git a/go.mod b/go.mod
index afd397034..d357da974 100644
--- a/go.mod
+++ b/go.mod
@@ -23,8 +23,8 @@ require (
 	golang.org/x/time v0.14.0
 	google.golang.org/protobuf v1.36.11
 	gopkg.in/evanphx/json-patch.v4 v4.13.0
-	k8s.io/api v0.0.0-20260221190738-2b63a8ab844a
-	k8s.io/apimachinery v0.0.0-20260220060104-eae5e9edd982
+	k8s.io/api v0.0.0-20260225113016-5bcacdeb1fa7
+	k8s.io/apimachinery v0.0.0-20260224233333-db8f40c74cff
 	k8s.io/klog/v2 v2.130.1
 	k8s.io/kube-openapi v0.0.0-20260127142750-a19766b6e2d4
 	k8s.io/utils v0.0.0-20260210185600-b8788abfbbc2
diff --git a/go.sum b/go.sum
index f304da53b..329b722f7 100644
--- a/go.sum
+++ b/go.sum
@@ -123,10 +123,10 @@ gopkg.in/inf.v0 v0.9.1/go.mod h1:cWUDdTG/fYaXco+Dcufb5Vnc6Gp2YChqWtbxRZE0mXw=
 gopkg.in/yaml.v3 v3.0.0-20200313102051-9f266ea9e77c/go.mod h1:K4uyk7z7BCEPqu6E+C64Yfv1cQ7kz7rIZviUmN+EgEM=
 gopkg.in/yaml.v3 v3.0.1 h1:fxVm/GzAzEWqLHuvctI91KS9hhNmmWOoWu0XTYJS7CA=
 gopkg.in/yaml.v3 v3.0.1/go.mod h1:K4uyk7z7BCEPqu6E+C64Yfv1cQ7kz7rIZviUmN+EgEM=
-k8s.io/api v0.0.0-20260221190738-2b63a8ab844a h1:e59cK8pukhrWQv/WNLTP6A4SxZ1slCJMJ3Bz2MD2lzc=
-k8s.io/api v0.0.0-20260221190738-2b63a8ab844a/go.mod h1:Paz4p8MttOpc/UbURW4kl71XIux9Mz5ILeBThkmukWw=
-k8s.io/apimachinery v0.0.0-20260220060104-eae5e9edd982 h1:B21Y+/NS0BgH5O47QjvSQI4NT4Gx7XH22DRrktWK6aw=
-k8s.io/apimachinery v0.0.0-20260220060104-eae5e9edd982/go.mod h1:7mgr/dli8ofwAbcIQXetFVX1fbOYsOYojq3AUbybVmQ=
+k8s.io/api v0.0.0-20260225113016-5bcacdeb1fa7 h1:sLZeXdnm4IBamL+Q0YIi3aLjOZeU6XSPAyq+llItk7U=
+k8s.io/api v0.0.0-20260225113016-5bcacdeb1fa7/go.mod h1:sJfdY4gzHfS5ewdEw0CVoyPe9x4YLhHe2eZHXiaegXo=
+k8s.io/apimachinery v0.0.0-20260224233333-db8f40c74cff h1:yJisc9AAvRi0Y6BdNqnjR/KlY298LeFUFI+YOmqpbUw=
+k8s.io/apimachinery v0.0.0-20260224233333-db8f40c74cff/go.mod h1:7mgr/dli8ofwAbcIQXetFVX1fbOYsOYojq3AUbybVmQ=
 k8s.io/klog/v2 v2.130.1 h1:n9Xl7H1Xvksem4KFG4PYbdQCQxqc/tTUyrgXaOhHSzk=
 k8s.io/klog/v2 v2.130.1/go.mod h1:3Jpz1GvMt720eyJH1ckRHK1EDfpxISzJ7I9OYgaDtPE=
 k8s.io/kube-openapi v0.0.0-20260127142750-a19766b6e2d4 h1:HhDfevmPS+OalTjQRKbTHppRIz01AWi8s45TMXStgYY=