diff --git a/pkg/kubelet/metrics/metrics.go b/pkg/kubelet/metrics/metrics.go
index b903f5cd2cb..d47d5ac0a6e 100644
--- a/pkg/kubelet/metrics/metrics.go
+++ b/pkg/kubelet/metrics/metrics.go
@@ -204,7 +204,7 @@ var (
 			Subsystem:      KubeletSubsystem,
 			Name:           RuntimeOperationsDurationKey,
 			Help:           "Duration in seconds of runtime operations. Broken down by operation type.",
-			Buckets:        metrics.DefBuckets,
+			Buckets:        metrics.ExponentialBuckets(.005, 2.5, 14),
 			StabilityLevel: metrics.ALPHA,
 		},
 		[]string{"operation_type"},