diff --git a/src/maml/base/_describer.py b/src/maml/base/_describer.py
index 6fbd1717..f5f5f6c2 100644
--- a/src/maml/base/_describer.py
+++ b/src/maml/base/_describer.py
@@ -66,7 +66,7 @@ def __init__(self, **kwargs):
         for k in kwargs:
             if k not in allowed_kwargs:
                 raise TypeError(f"{k} not allowed as kwargs")
-        memory = kwargs.get("memory", None)
+        memory = kwargs.get("memory")
         if isinstance(memory, bool):
             memory = tempfile.mkdtemp()
             logger.info(f"Created temporary directory {memory}")
@@ -80,7 +80,7 @@ def __init__(self, **kwargs):
             n_jobs = cpu_count()
             logger.info(f"Using {n_jobs} jobs for computation")
         self.n_jobs = n_jobs
-        self.feature_batch = get_feature_batch(kwargs.get("feature_batch", None))
+        self.feature_batch = get_feature_batch(kwargs.get("feature_batch"))
 
     def fit(self, x: Any, y: Any = None) -> BaseDescriber:
         """
diff --git a/src/maml/utils/_value_profile.py b/src/maml/utils/_value_profile.py
index 2bf11513..36c7d9cc 100644
--- a/src/maml/utils/_value_profile.py
+++ b/src/maml/utils/_value_profile.py
@@ -81,7 +81,7 @@ def __init__(self, value_start: float, value_end: float = 0.0, max_steps: int =
             **kwargs: captures anything else.
         """
         self.value_start = value_start
-        rate = kwargs.get("rate", None)
+        rate = kwargs.get("rate")
         if rate is None:
             self.rate = (value_end - self.value_start) / max_steps
         else: