diff --git a/hbase-client/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/KeepDeletedCells.java b/hbase-client/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/KeepDeletedCells.java
index 32b6aa7514c..dd19fa1c227 100644
--- a/hbase-client/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/KeepDeletedCells.java
+++ b/hbase-client/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/KeepDeletedCells.java
@@ -45,4 +45,7 @@ public enum KeepDeletedCells {
    * time remove deleted cells after the TTL.
    */
   TTL;
+  public static KeepDeletedCells getValue(String val) {
+    return valueOf(val.toUpperCase());
+  }
 }
diff --git a/hbase-client/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/client/ColumnFamilyDescriptorBuilder.java b/hbase-client/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/client/ColumnFamilyDescriptorBuilder.java
index 14f7381f7dc..c18e4deb316 100644
--- a/hbase-client/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/client/ColumnFamilyDescriptorBuilder.java
+++ b/hbase-client/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/client/ColumnFamilyDescriptorBuilder.java
@@ -898,7 +898,8 @@ public class ColumnFamilyDescriptorBuilder {
 
     @Override
     public KeepDeletedCells getKeepDeletedCells() {
-      return getStringOrDefault(KEEP_DELETED_CELLS_BYTES, KeepDeletedCells::valueOf, DEFAULT_KEEP_DELETED);
+      return getStringOrDefault(KEEP_DELETED_CELLS_BYTES,
+          KeepDeletedCells::getValue, DEFAULT_KEEP_DELETED);
     }
 
     /**