diff --git a/cmd/helm/helm.go b/cmd/helm/helm.go
index 3e244e0cd..ad32659c1 100644
--- a/cmd/helm/helm.go
+++ b/cmd/helm/helm.go
@@ -47,6 +47,7 @@ var (
 	tlsEnable     bool   // enable TLS
 
 	kubeContext  string
+        kubeConfig   string
 	tillerTunnel *kube.Tunnel
 	settings     helm_env.EnvSettings
 )
@@ -95,6 +96,7 @@ func addRootFlags(cmd *cobra.Command) {
 	pf.StringVar((*string)(&settings.Home), "home", helm_env.DefaultHelmHome, "location of your Helm config. Overrides $HELM_HOME")
 	pf.StringVar(&settings.TillerHost, "host", "", "address of Tiller. Overrides $HELM_HOST")
 	pf.StringVar(&kubeContext, "kube-context", "", "name of the kubeconfig context to use")
+	pf.StringVar(&kubeConfig, "kubeconfig", "", "path to kubeconfig file")
 	pf.BoolVar(&settings.Debug, "debug", false, "enable verbose output")
 	pf.StringVar(&settings.TillerNamespace, "tiller-namespace", tiller_env.DefaultTillerNamespace, "namespace of Tiller")
 }
@@ -244,7 +246,7 @@ func prettyError(err error) error {
 
 // configForContext creates a Kubernetes REST client configuration for a given kubeconfig context.
 func configForContext(context string) (*rest.Config, error) {
-	config, err := kube.GetConfig(context).ClientConfig()
+	config, err := kube.GetConfig(context, kubeConfig).ClientConfig()
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("could not get Kubernetes config for context %q: %s", context, err)
 	}
diff --git a/cmd/helm/install.go b/cmd/helm/install.go
index 988e7f0a1..43df4ef71 100644
--- a/cmd/helm/install.go
+++ b/cmd/helm/install.go
@@ -434,7 +434,7 @@ func generateName(nameTemplate string) (string, error) {
 }
 
 func defaultNamespace() string {
-	if ns, _, err := kube.GetConfig(kubeContext).Namespace(); err == nil {
+	if ns, _, err := kube.GetConfig(kubeContext, kubeConfig).Namespace(); err == nil {
 		return ns
 	}
 	return "default"
diff --git a/pkg/kube/config.go b/pkg/kube/config.go
index b6560486e..841c95784 100644
--- a/pkg/kube/config.go
+++ b/pkg/kube/config.go
@@ -18,8 +18,8 @@ package kube // import "k8s.io/helm/pkg/kube"
 
 import "k8s.io/client-go/tools/clientcmd"
 
-// GetConfig returns a Kubernetes client config for a given context.
-func GetConfig(context string) clientcmd.ClientConfig {
+// GetConfig returns a kubernetes client config for a given context.
+func GetConfig(context string, kubeconfig string) clientcmd.ClientConfig {
 	rules := clientcmd.NewDefaultClientConfigLoadingRules()
 	rules.DefaultClientConfig = &clientcmd.DefaultClientConfig
 
@@ -28,5 +28,10 @@ func GetConfig(context string) clientcmd.ClientConfig {
 	if context != "" {
 		overrides.CurrentContext = context
 	}
+
+	if kubeconfig != "" {
+		rules.ExplicitPath = kubeconfig
+	}
+
 	return clientcmd.NewNonInteractiveDeferredLoadingClientConfig(rules, overrides)
 }