diff --git a/lib/_stream_readable.js b/lib/_stream_readable.js
index 56361e6dd2..a9d9fc60b7 100644
--- a/lib/_stream_readable.js
+++ b/lib/_stream_readable.js
@@ -33,10 +33,17 @@ util.inherits(Readable, Stream);
 function ReadableState(options, stream) {
   options = options || {};
 
+  // object stream flag. Used to make read(n) ignore n and to
+  // make all the buffer merging and length checks go away
+  this.objectMode = !!options.objectMode;
+
+  if (stream instanceof Stream.Duplex)
+    this.objectMode = this.objectMode || !!options.readableObjectMode;
+
   // the point at which it stops calling _read() to fill the buffer
   // Note: 0 is a valid value, means "don't call _read preemptively ever"
   var hwm = options.highWaterMark;
-  var defaultHwm = options.objectMode ? 16 : 16 * 1024;
+  var defaultHwm = this.objectMode ? 16 : 16 * 1024;
   this.highWaterMark = (hwm || hwm === 0) ? hwm : defaultHwm;
 
   // cast to ints.
@@ -63,14 +70,6 @@ function ReadableState(options, stream) {
   this.emittedReadable = false;
   this.readableListening = false;
 
-
-  // object stream flag. Used to make read(n) ignore n and to
-  // make all the buffer merging and length checks go away
-  this.objectMode = !!options.objectMode;
-
-  if (stream instanceof Stream.Duplex)
-    this.objectMode = this.objectMode || !!options.readableObjectMode;
-
   // Crypto is kind of old and crusty.  Historically, its default string
   // encoding is 'binary' so we have to make this configurable.
   // Everything else in the universe uses 'utf8', though.
diff --git a/lib/_stream_writable.js b/lib/_stream_writable.js
index f9ae412a97..dbc227bbaf 100644
--- a/lib/_stream_writable.js
+++ b/lib/_stream_writable.js
@@ -40,13 +40,6 @@ function WriteReq(chunk, encoding, cb) {
 function WritableState(options, stream) {
   options = options || {};
 
-  // the point at which write() starts returning false
-  // Note: 0 is a valid value, means that we always return false if
-  // the entire buffer is not flushed immediately on write()
-  var hwm = options.highWaterMark;
-  var defaultHwm = options.objectMode ? 16 : 16 * 1024;
-  this.highWaterMark = (hwm || hwm === 0) ? hwm : defaultHwm;
-
   // object stream flag to indicate whether or not this stream
   // contains buffers or objects.
   this.objectMode = !!options.objectMode;
@@ -54,6 +47,13 @@ function WritableState(options, stream) {
   if (stream instanceof Stream.Duplex)
     this.objectMode = this.objectMode || !!options.writableObjectMode;
 
+  // the point at which write() starts returning false
+  // Note: 0 is a valid value, means that we always return false if
+  // the entire buffer is not flushed immediately on write()
+  var hwm = options.highWaterMark;
+  var defaultHwm = this.objectMode ? 16 : 16 * 1024;
+  this.highWaterMark = (hwm || hwm === 0) ? hwm : defaultHwm;
+
   // cast to ints.
   this.highWaterMark = ~~this.highWaterMark;
 
diff --git a/test/simple/test-stream-transform-split-objectmode.js b/test/simple/test-stream-transform-split-objectmode.js
index 7e82838d5b..72a2f0acec 100644
--- a/test/simple/test-stream-transform-split-objectmode.js
+++ b/test/simple/test-stream-transform-split-objectmode.js
@@ -28,6 +28,8 @@ var parser = new Transform({ readableObjectMode : true });
 
 assert(parser._readableState.objectMode);
 assert(!parser._writableState.objectMode);
+assert(parser._readableState.highWaterMark === 16);
+assert(parser._writableState.highWaterMark === (16 * 1024));
 
 parser._transform = function (chunk, enc, callback) {
   callback(null, { val : chunk[0] });
@@ -50,10 +52,12 @@ var serializer = new Transform({ writableObjectMode : true });
 
 assert(!serializer._readableState.objectMode);
 assert(serializer._writableState.objectMode);
+assert(serializer._readableState.highWaterMark === (16 * 1024));
+assert(serializer._writableState.highWaterMark === 16);
 
 serializer._transform = function (obj, _, callback) {
   callback(null, new Buffer([obj.val]));
-}
+};
 
 var serialized;