diff --git a/hack/build/init-buildx.sh b/hack/build/init-buildx.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000..9e3352347b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/hack/build/init-buildx.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+# Copyright 2020 The Kubernetes Authors.
+#
+# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+# You may obtain a copy of the License at
+#
+#     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#
+# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+# limitations under the License.
+
+set -o errexit -o nounset -o pipefail
+
+export DOCKER_CLI_EXPERIMENTAL=enabled
+
+# We can skip setup if the current builder already has multi-arch
+current_builder="$(docker buildx inspect)"
+# linux/amd64, linux/arm64, linux/riscv64, linux/ppc64le, linux/s390x, linux/386, linux/arm/v7, linux/arm/v6
+if grep -q "linux/amd64" <<<"${current_builder}" && grep -q "linux/arm64" <<<"${current_builder}"; then
+  exit 0
+fi
+
+# Ensure qemu is in binfmt_misc
+# Docker desktop already has these in versions recent enough to have buildx
+# We only need to do this setup on linux hosts
+if [ "$(uname)" == 'Linux' ]; then
+  # NOTE: this is pinned to a digest for a reason!
+  docker run --rm --privileged multiarch/qemu-user-static@sha256:c772ee1965aa0be9915ee1b018a0dd92ea361b4fa1bcab5bbc033517749b2af4 --reset -p yes
+fi
+
+# Ensure we use a builder that can leverage it (the default on linux will not)
+docker buildx rm kind-builder || true
+docker buildx create --use --name=kind-builder
diff --git a/images/base/Makefile b/images/base/Makefile
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..741b82dbbe
--- /dev/null
+++ b/images/base/Makefile
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+TAG?=$(shell echo "$$(date +v%Y%m%d)-$$(git describe --always --dirty)")
+IMAGE?=kindest/base:$(TAG)
+
+# build with buildx
+PLATFORMS?=linux/amd64,linux/arm64
+OUTPUT=
+build: ensure-buildx
+	docker buildx build --platform=${PLATFORMS} $(OUTPUT) -t ${IMAGE} --pull .
+
+# push the cross built image
+push: OUTPUT=--push
+push: build
+
+# quick can be used to do a build that will be imported into the local docker 
+# for sanity checking before doing a cross build push
+# cross builds cannot be imported locally at the moment
+# https://github.com/docker/buildx/issues/59
+quick: PLATFORMS=linux/amd64
+quick: OUTPUT=--load
+quick: build
+
+# enable buildx
+DOCKER_CLI_EXPERIMENTAL=enabled
+ensure-buildx:
+	./../../hack/build/init-buildx.sh
+
+.PHONY: push build quick ensure-buildx
\ No newline at end of file