diff --git a/tests/e2e/k8s.go b/tests/e2e/k8s.go
index b166c3fbc..c020f2690 100644
--- a/tests/e2e/k8s.go
+++ b/tests/e2e/k8s.go
@@ -424,7 +424,15 @@ func listK8sCRDs(kubectlOptions k8s.KubectlOptions, crdNames ...string) ([]strin
 		return nil, errors.WrapIfWithDetails(err, "listing K8s CRDs failed failed", "crdNames", crdNames)
 	}
 
-	return strings.Split(output, "\n"), nil
+	// Trim the trailing newline before splitting so a trailing empty-string
+	// element never leaks into the result (see listK8sResourceKinds), and drop
+	// any warning lines - consistent with the other list helpers.
+	output = strings.TrimRight(output, "\n")
+	if output == "" {
+		return nil, nil
+	}
+
+	return kubectlRemoveWarnings(strings.Split(output, "\n")), nil
 }
 
 // deleteK8sResourceOpts deletes K8s resources based on the kind and name or kind and selector.
@@ -516,13 +524,9 @@ func listK8sResourceKinds(kubectlOptions k8s.KubectlOptions, apiGroupSelector st
 
 	args = append(args, extraArgs...)
 
-	output, err := k8s.RunKubectlAndGetOutputContextE(
-		ginkgo.GinkgoT(),
-		context.Background(),
-		&kubectlOptions,
-		args...,
-	)
-
+	// Execute kubectl directly without terratest's logging: api-resources returns
+	// one line per resource kind (100+ lines), which otherwise floods the test output.
+	output, err := runKubectlSilent(kubectlOptions, args...)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}
@@ -533,6 +537,12 @@ func listK8sResourceKinds(kubectlOptions k8s.KubectlOptions, apiGroupSelector st
 		return nil, nil
 	}
 
+	// Trim the trailing newline before splitting: runKubectlSilent preserves
+	// kubectl's trailing "\n" (unlike terratest's runner), which would otherwise
+	// yield an empty-string element and break callers that join the kinds for
+	// `kubectl get` (error: the server doesn't have a resource type "").
+	output = strings.TrimRight(output, "\n")
+
 	return kubectlRemoveWarnings(strings.Split(output, "\n")), nil
 }
 
@@ -746,20 +756,6 @@ func isKubectlNotFoundError(err error) bool {
 	return err != nil && strings.Contains(err.Error(), kubectlNotFoundErrorMsg)
 }
 
-// setupReducedLogging configures reduced logging for terratest operations
-func setupReducedLogging() {
-	// Set environment variables to reduce terratest logging verbosity
-	if os.Getenv("E2E_VERBOSE_LOGGING") != verboseLoggingEnabled {
-		// Reduce terratest internal logging
-		os.Setenv("TEST_LOG_LEVEL", "-5")
-		// Reduce kubectl verbosity
-		os.Setenv("KUBECTL_VERBOSITY", "0")
-		// Additional environment variables to reduce terratest kubectl command logging
-		os.Setenv("TERRATEST_LOG_LEVEL", "INFO")
-		os.Setenv("KUBECTL_LOG_LEVEL", "0")
-	}
-}
-
 // waitForKafkaClusterWithPodStatusCheck waits for KafkaCluster to be ready and checks pod status every 10 seconds
 func waitForKafkaClusterWithPodStatusCheck(kubectlOptions k8s.KubectlOptions, clusterName string, timeout time.Duration) error {
 	// Only log if verbose logging is enabled
diff --git a/tests/e2e/koperator_suite_test.go b/tests/e2e/koperator_suite_test.go
index 3e2c35c3a..dc270d42e 100644
--- a/tests/e2e/koperator_suite_test.go
+++ b/tests/e2e/koperator_suite_test.go
@@ -32,9 +32,6 @@ func TestKoperator(t *testing.T) {
 }
 
 var _ = ginkgo.BeforeSuite(func() {
-	// Setup reduced logging for terratest operations
-	setupReducedLogging()
-
 	ginkgo.By("Acquiring K8s cluster")
 	var kubeconfigPath string
 	var kubecontextName string
diff --git a/tests/e2e/test_multidisk_removal.go b/tests/e2e/test_multidisk_removal.go
index 110d58d8a..fa34a07a9 100644
--- a/tests/e2e/test_multidisk_removal.go
+++ b/tests/e2e/test_multidisk_removal.go
@@ -132,7 +132,11 @@ func getBrokerConfigMapLogDirs(kubectlOptions k8s.KubectlOptions, configMapName
 		"-n", namespace,
 		"-o", fmt.Sprintf("jsonpath={.data.%s}", kafkautils.ConfigPropertyName),
 	}
-	output, err := k8s.RunKubectlAndGetOutputE(ginkgo.GinkgoT(), &kubectlOptions, args...)
+	// Fetch broker-config directly without terratest's logging: the ConfigMap holds the
+	// entire broker configuration (a multi-line properties blob) and this runs on every
+	// poll iteration for each broker, so logging the full value would flood the output.
+	// We only need log.dirs, which we parse out of the properties content below.
+	output, err := runKubectlSilent(kubectlOptions, args...)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("getting configmap %s: %w", configMapName, err)
 	}
@@ -153,6 +157,8 @@ func getBrokerConfigMapLogDirs(kubectlOptions k8s.KubectlOptions, configMapName
 					paths = append(paths, q)
 				}
 			}
+			// Log only the extracted log.dirs (not the whole broker config).
+			ginkgo.By(fmt.Sprintf("configmap %s log.dirs: %v", configMapName, paths))
 			return paths, nil
 		}
 	}