diff --git a/pkg/kubectl/cmd/apply/apply.go b/pkg/kubectl/cmd/apply/apply.go
index b125c95cc5f..de8274169ea 100644
--- a/pkg/kubectl/cmd/apply/apply.go
+++ b/pkg/kubectl/cmd/apply/apply.go
@@ -25,7 +25,6 @@ import (
 	"github.com/golang/glog"
 	"github.com/jonboulle/clockwork"
 	"github.com/spf13/cobra"
-
 	corev1 "k8s.io/api/core/v1"
 	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/api/errors"
 	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/api/meta"
@@ -300,6 +299,11 @@ func (o *ApplyOptions) Run() error {
 		openapiSchema = o.OpenAPISchema
 	}
 
+	dryRunVerifier := &DryRunVerifier{
+		Finder:        cmdutil.NewCRDFinder(cmdutil.CRDFromDynamic(o.DynamicClient)),
+		OpenAPIGetter: o.DiscoveryClient,
+	}
+
 	// include the uninitialized objects by default if --prune is true
 	// unless explicitly set --include-uninitialized=false
 	r := o.Builder.
@@ -361,6 +365,13 @@ func (o *ApplyOptions) Run() error {
 			if !errors.IsNotFound(err) {
 				return cmdutil.AddSourceToErr(fmt.Sprintf("retrieving current configuration of:\n%s\nfrom server for:", info.String()), info.Source, err)
 			}
+			// If server-dry-run is requested but the type doesn't support it, fail right away.
+			if o.ServerDryRun {
+				if err := dryRunVerifier.HasSupport(info.Mapping.GroupVersionKind); err != nil {
+					return err
+				}
+			}
+
 			// Create the resource if it doesn't exist
 			// First, update the annotation used by kubectl apply
 			if err := kubectl.CreateApplyAnnotation(info.Object, unstructured.UnstructuredJSONScheme); err != nil {
@@ -410,25 +421,19 @@ func (o *ApplyOptions) Run() error {
 				fmt.Fprintf(o.ErrOut, warningNoLastAppliedConfigAnnotation, o.cmdBaseName)
 			}
 
-			dryRunVerifier := &DryRunVerifier{
-				Finder:        cmdutil.NewCRDFinder(cmdutil.CRDFromDynamic(o.DynamicClient)),
-				OpenAPIGetter: o.DiscoveryClient,
-			}
-
 			helper := resource.NewHelper(info.Client, info.Mapping)
 			patcher := &Patcher{
-				Mapping:        info.Mapping,
-				Helper:         helper,
-				DynamicClient:  o.DynamicClient,
-				DryRunVerifier: dryRunVerifier,
-				Overwrite:      o.Overwrite,
-				BackOff:        clockwork.NewRealClock(),
-				Force:          o.DeleteOptions.ForceDeletion,
-				Cascade:        o.DeleteOptions.Cascade,
-				Timeout:        o.DeleteOptions.Timeout,
-				GracePeriod:    o.DeleteOptions.GracePeriod,
-				ServerDryRun:   o.ServerDryRun,
-				OpenapiSchema:  openapiSchema,
+				Mapping:       info.Mapping,
+				Helper:        helper,
+				DynamicClient: o.DynamicClient,
+				Overwrite:     o.Overwrite,
+				BackOff:       clockwork.NewRealClock(),
+				Force:         o.DeleteOptions.ForceDeletion,
+				Cascade:       o.DeleteOptions.Cascade,
+				Timeout:       o.DeleteOptions.Timeout,
+				GracePeriod:   o.DeleteOptions.GracePeriod,
+				ServerDryRun:  o.ServerDryRun,
+				OpenapiSchema: openapiSchema,
 			}
 
 			patchBytes, patchedObject, err := patcher.Patch(info.Object, modified, info.Source, info.Namespace, info.Name, o.ErrOut)
@@ -681,10 +686,9 @@ func (p *Patcher) delete(namespace, name string) error {
 }
 
 type Patcher struct {
-	Mapping        *meta.RESTMapping
-	Helper         *resource.Helper
-	DynamicClient  dynamic.Interface
-	DryRunVerifier *DryRunVerifier
+	Mapping       *meta.RESTMapping
+	Helper        *resource.Helper
+	DynamicClient dynamic.Interface
 
 	Overwrite bool
 	BackOff   clockwork.Clock
@@ -738,12 +742,6 @@ func (v *DryRunVerifier) HasSupport(gvk schema.GroupVersionKind) error {
 }
 
 func (p *Patcher) patchSimple(obj runtime.Object, modified []byte, source, namespace, name string, errOut io.Writer) ([]byte, runtime.Object, error) {
-	if p.ServerDryRun {
-		if err := p.DryRunVerifier.HasSupport(p.Mapping.GroupVersionKind); err != nil {
-			return nil, nil, err
-		}
-	}
-
 	// Serialize the current configuration of the object from the server.
 	current, err := runtime.Encode(unstructured.UnstructuredJSONScheme, obj)
 	if err != nil {
diff --git a/pkg/kubectl/cmd/diff/diff.go b/pkg/kubectl/cmd/diff/diff.go
index 18f8a3e3808..797a9fde1ff 100644
--- a/pkg/kubectl/cmd/diff/diff.go
+++ b/pkg/kubectl/cmd/diff/diff.go
@@ -26,7 +26,6 @@ import (
 	"github.com/ghodss/yaml"
 	"github.com/jonboulle/clockwork"
 	"github.com/spf13/cobra"
-
 	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/api/errors"
 	metav1 "k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/apis/meta/v1"
 	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/apis/meta/v1/unstructured"
@@ -226,11 +225,10 @@ type Object interface {
 // InfoObject is an implementation of the Object interface. It gets all
 // the information from the Info object.
 type InfoObject struct {
-	LocalObj       runtime.Object
-	Info           *resource.Info
-	Encoder        runtime.Encoder
-	OpenAPI        openapi.Resources
-	DryRunVerifier *apply.DryRunVerifier
+	LocalObj runtime.Object
+	Info     *resource.Info
+	Encoder  runtime.Encoder
+	OpenAPI  openapi.Resources
 }
 
 var _ Object = &InfoObject{}
@@ -262,13 +260,12 @@ func (obj InfoObject) Merged() (runtime.Object, error) {
 	// This is using the patcher from apply, to keep the same behavior.
 	// We plan on replacing this with server-side apply when it becomes available.
 	patcher := &apply.Patcher{
-		DryRunVerifier: obj.DryRunVerifier,
-		Mapping:        obj.Info.Mapping,
-		Helper:         resource.NewHelper(obj.Info.Client, obj.Info.Mapping),
-		Overwrite:      true,
-		BackOff:        clockwork.NewRealClock(),
-		ServerDryRun:   true,
-		OpenapiSchema:  obj.OpenAPI,
+		Mapping:       obj.Info.Mapping,
+		Helper:        resource.NewHelper(obj.Info.Client, obj.Info.Mapping),
+		Overwrite:     true,
+		BackOff:       clockwork.NewRealClock(),
+		ServerDryRun:  true,
+		OpenapiSchema: obj.OpenAPI,
 	}
 
 	_, result, err := patcher.Patch(obj.Info.Object, modified, obj.Info.Source, obj.Info.Namespace, obj.Info.Name, nil)
@@ -375,6 +372,10 @@ func RunDiff(f cmdutil.Factory, diff *DiffProgram, options *DiffOptions) error {
 			return err
 		}
 
+		if err := dryRunVerifier.HasSupport(info.Mapping.GroupVersionKind); err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+
 		local := info.Object.DeepCopyObject()
 		if err := info.Get(); err != nil {
 			if !errors.IsNotFound(err) {
@@ -384,11 +385,10 @@ func RunDiff(f cmdutil.Factory, diff *DiffProgram, options *DiffOptions) error {
 		}
 
 		obj := InfoObject{
-			LocalObj:       local,
-			Info:           info,
-			Encoder:        scheme.DefaultJSONEncoder(),
-			OpenAPI:        schema,
-			DryRunVerifier: dryRunVerifier,
+			LocalObj: local,
+			Info:     info,
+			Encoder:  scheme.DefaultJSONEncoder(),
+			OpenAPI:  schema,
 		}
 
 		return differ.Diff(obj, printer)