diff --git a/cmake/utils.cmake b/cmake/utils.cmake
index 9635b210c..fbb546dbe 100644
--- a/cmake/utils.cmake
+++ b/cmake/utils.cmake
@@ -13,11 +13,9 @@ function(ParseGetArchVars GETARCH_IN)
 endfunction ()
 
 # Reads a Makefile into CMake vars.
-# TODO: read nested Makefiles (I think 1 level should do)
 # TODO: respect IFDEF/IFNDEF?
 # TODO: regex replace makefile vars, e.g. $(TSUFFIX) is set to the target arch in the var CGEMMOTCOPYOBJ = cgemm_otcopy$(TSUFFIX).$(SUFFIX)
-# TODO: bail when makefile is missing, like -include
-function(ParseMakefileVars MAKEFILE_IN)
+macro(ParseMakefileVars MAKEFILE_IN)
   message(STATUS "Reading vars from ${MAKEFILE_IN}...")
   file(STRINGS ${MAKEFILE_IN} makefile_contents)
   foreach (makefile_line ${makefile_contents})
@@ -25,13 +23,18 @@ function(ParseMakefileVars MAKEFILE_IN)
     if (NOT "${line_match}" STREQUAL "")
       set(var_name ${CMAKE_MATCH_1})
       set(var_value ${CMAKE_MATCH_2})
-      set(${VAR_NAME} ${VAR_VALUE} PARENT_SCOPE)
+      set(${var_name} ${var_value})
       message(STATUS "found var ${var_name} = ${var_value}")
     else ()
-      message(STATUS "couldn't parse ${makefile_line} into a var")
+      string(REGEX MATCH "include \\$\\(KERNELDIR\\)/(.+)$" line_match "${makefile_line}")
+      if (NOT "${line_match}" STREQUAL "")
+        ParseMakefileVars(${KERNELDIR}/${CMAKE_MATCH_1})
+      else ()
+        message(STATUS "couldn't parse ${makefile_line} into a var")
+      endif ()
     endif ()
   endforeach ()
-endfunction ()
+endmacro ()
 
 # Returns all combinations of the input list, as a list with colon-separated combinations
 # E.g. input of A B C returns A B C A:B A:C B:C
diff --git a/kernel/CMakeLists.txt b/kernel/CMakeLists.txt
index 479b1838f..12c27fd50 100644
--- a/kernel/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/kernel/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 include_directories(${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR})
 include("${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/cmake/kernel.cmake")
 
-# Makeflie
+# Makefile
 
 if (DEFINED TARGET_CORE)
   #override CFLAGS += -DBUILD_KERNEL -DTABLE_NAME=gotoblas_$(TARGET_CORE)
@@ -31,11 +31,7 @@ GenerateNamedObjects("${KERNELDIR}/${SCABS_KERNEL}" "COMPLEX;F_INTERFACE" "scabs
 GenerateNamedObjects("${KERNELDIR}/${DCABS_KERNEL}" "DOUBLE;COMPLEX;F_INTERFACE" "dcabs1" false "" "" true)
 
 # Makefile.L1
-
-# TODO: need to read ${KERNELDIR}/KERNEL into CMake vars
-
 foreach (float_type ${FLOAT_TYPES})
-
   # a bit of metaprogramming here to pull out the appropriate KERNEL var
   string(SUBSTRING ${float_type} 0 1 float_char)
   GenerateNamedObjects("${KERNELDIR}/${${float_char}AMAXKERNEL}" "USE_ABS" "amax_k" false "" "" false ${float_type})
@@ -58,27 +54,14 @@ foreach (float_type ${FLOAT_TYPES})
 endforeach ()
 
 # Makefile.L2
-
 GenerateNamedObjects("${KERNELDIR}/gemv_n.S" "DOUBLE")
 GenerateNamedObjects("${KERNELDIR}/gemv_t.S" "TRANS")
 GenerateCombinationObjects("generic/symv_k.c" "LOWER" "U" "" 1 "" "" 3)
 GenerateNamedObjects("generic/ger.c" "" "ger_k" false "" "" "" 3)
 
 # Makefile.L3
-
-# TODO: these are from KERNEL.PENRYN - they should be read in from the appropriate ${KERNELDIR}/KERNEL file
-set(DGEMM_BETA ../generic/gemm_beta.c)
-set(DGEMMKERNEL gemm_kernel_2x4_penryn.S)
-set(DGEMMINCOPY gemm_ncopy_2.S)
-set(DGEMMITCOPY gemm_tcopy_2.S)
-set(DGEMMONCOPY ../generic/gemm_ncopy_4.c)
-set(DGEMMOTCOPY ../generic/gemm_tcopy_4.c)
-set(DGEMMINCOPYOBJ gemm_incopy)
-set(DGEMMITCOPYOBJ gemm_itcopy)
-set(DGEMMONCOPYOBJ gemm_oncopy)
-set(DGEMMOTCOPYOBJ gemm_otcopy)
-
-GenerateNamedObjects("${KERNELDIR}/${DGEMMKERNEL}" "" "gemm_kernel" false "" "" "" 3)
+message(STATUS "dgemm: ${DGEMMKERNEL}")
+GenerateNamedObjects("${KERNELDIR}/${DGEMMKERNEL}" "" "gemm_kernel" false "" "" false 3)
 
 if (DGEMMINCOPY)
   GenerateNamedObjects("${KERNELDIR}/${DGEMMINCOPY}" "" "${DGEMMINCOPYOBJ}")