diff --git a/staging/src/k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/endpoints/installer.go b/staging/src/k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/endpoints/installer.go
index 9bf2467cc84..37579820a4a 100644
--- a/staging/src/k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/endpoints/installer.go
+++ b/staging/src/k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/endpoints/installer.go
@@ -291,12 +291,17 @@ func (a *APIInstaller) registerResourceHandlers(path string, storage rest.Storag
 
 	var versionedDeleteOptions runtime.Object
 	var versionedDeleterObject interface{}
+	deleteReturnsDeletedObject := false
 	if isGracefulDeleter {
 		versionedDeleteOptions, err = a.group.Creater.New(optionsExternalVersion.WithKind("DeleteOptions"))
 		if err != nil {
 			return nil, err
 		}
 		versionedDeleterObject = indirectArbitraryPointer(versionedDeleteOptions)
+
+		if mayReturnFullObjectDeleter, ok := storage.(rest.MayReturnFullObjectDeleter); ok {
+			deleteReturnsDeletedObject = mayReturnFullObjectDeleter.DeleteReturnsDeletedObject()
+		}
 	}
 
 	versionedStatusPtr, err := a.group.Creater.New(optionsExternalVersion.WithKind("Status"))
@@ -769,15 +774,19 @@ func (a *APIInstaller) registerResourceHandlers(path string, storage rest.Storag
 			if isSubresource {
 				doc = "delete " + subresource + " of" + article + kind
 			}
+			deleteReturnType := versionedStatus
+			if deleteReturnsDeletedObject {
+				deleteReturnType = producedObject
+			}
 			handler := metrics.InstrumentRouteFunc(action.Verb, group, version, resource, subresource, requestScope, metrics.APIServerComponent, restfulDeleteResource(gracefulDeleter, isGracefulDeleter, reqScope, admit))
 			route := ws.DELETE(action.Path).To(handler).
 				Doc(doc).
 				Param(ws.QueryParameter("pretty", "If 'true', then the output is pretty printed.")).
 				Operation("delete"+namespaced+kind+strings.Title(subresource)+operationSuffix).
 				Produces(append(storageMeta.ProducesMIMETypes(action.Verb), mediaTypes...)...).
-				Writes(versionedStatus).
-				Returns(http.StatusOK, "OK", versionedStatus).
-				Returns(http.StatusAccepted, "Accepted", versionedStatus)
+				Writes(deleteReturnType).
+				Returns(http.StatusOK, "OK", deleteReturnType).
+				Returns(http.StatusAccepted, "Accepted", deleteReturnType)
 			if isGracefulDeleter {
 				route.Reads(versionedDeleterObject)
 				route.ParameterNamed("body").Required(false)
diff --git a/staging/src/k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/registry/generic/registry/store.go b/staging/src/k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/registry/generic/registry/store.go
index dc287d1ed5b..8701d4542d1 100644
--- a/staging/src/k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/registry/generic/registry/store.go
+++ b/staging/src/k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/registry/generic/registry/store.go
@@ -975,6 +975,11 @@ func (e *Store) Delete(ctx context.Context, name string, deleteValidation rest.V
 	return out, true, err
 }
 
+// DeleteReturnsDeletedObject implements the rest.MayReturnFullObjectDeleter interface
+func (e *Store) DeleteReturnsDeletedObject() bool {
+	return e.ReturnDeletedObject
+}
+
 // DeleteCollection removes all items returned by List with a given ListOptions from storage.
 //
 // DeleteCollection is currently NOT atomic. It can happen that only subset of objects
diff --git a/staging/src/k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/registry/rest/rest.go b/staging/src/k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/registry/rest/rest.go
index 9ea6f98970e..8f9c981dd85 100644
--- a/staging/src/k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/registry/rest/rest.go
+++ b/staging/src/k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/registry/rest/rest.go
@@ -161,6 +161,11 @@ type GracefulDeleter interface {
 	Delete(ctx context.Context, name string, deleteValidation ValidateObjectFunc, options *metav1.DeleteOptions) (runtime.Object, bool, error)
 }
 
+// MayReturnFullObjectDeleter may return deleted object (instead of a simple status) on deletion.
+type MayReturnFullObjectDeleter interface {
+	DeleteReturnsDeletedObject() bool
+}
+
 // CollectionDeleter is an object that can delete a collection
 // of RESTful resources.
 type CollectionDeleter interface {