diff --git a/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/HBaseTestingUtility.java b/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/HBaseTestingUtility.java
index 797da7b8d9b..a848ff2ca3d 100644
--- a/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/HBaseTestingUtility.java
+++ b/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/HBaseTestingUtility.java
@@ -1196,6 +1196,21 @@ public class HBaseTestingUtility extends HBaseCommonTestingUtility {
     return new HTable(c, htd.getTableName());
   }
 
+  /**
+   * Create a table.
+   * @param htd
+   * @param splitRows
+   * @return An HTable instance for the created table.
+   * @throws IOException
+   */
+  public HTable createTable(HTableDescriptor htd, byte[][] splitRows)
+      throws IOException {
+    getHBaseAdmin().createTable(htd, splitRows);
+    // HBaseAdmin only waits for regions to appear in hbase:meta we should wait until they are assigned
+    waitUntilAllRegionsAssigned(htd.getTableName());
+    return new HTable(getConfiguration(), htd.getTableName());
+  }
+
   /**
    * Create a table.
    * @param tableName
diff --git a/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/snapshot/SnapshotTestingUtils.java b/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/snapshot/SnapshotTestingUtils.java
index c147fd07088..3da3b10c3fb 100644
--- a/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/snapshot/SnapshotTestingUtils.java
+++ b/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/snapshot/SnapshotTestingUtils.java
@@ -44,8 +44,10 @@ import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.HRegionInfo;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.HTableDescriptor;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.TableName;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.TableNotEnabledException;
+import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.Waiter;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.client.Admin;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.client.Durability;
+import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.client.HBaseAdmin;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.client.HTable;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.client.Put;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.client.Table;
@@ -630,27 +632,32 @@ public class SnapshotTestingUtils {
     for (HRegion region : onlineRegions) {
       region.waitForFlushesAndCompactions();
     }
-    util.getHBaseAdmin().isTableAvailable(tableName);
+    // Wait up to 60 seconds for a table to be available.
+    final HBaseAdmin hBaseAdmin = util.getHBaseAdmin();
+    util.waitFor(60000, new Waiter.Predicate<IOException>() {
+      @Override
+      public boolean evaluate() throws IOException {
+        return hBaseAdmin.isTableAvailable(tableName);
+      }
+    });
   }
 
   public static void createTable(final HBaseTestingUtility util, final TableName tableName,
       int regionReplication, final byte[]... families) throws IOException, InterruptedException {
     HTableDescriptor htd = new HTableDescriptor(tableName);
     htd.setRegionReplication(regionReplication);
-    for (byte[] family: families) {
+    for (byte[] family : families) {
       HColumnDescriptor hcd = new HColumnDescriptor(family);
       htd.addFamily(hcd);
     }
     byte[][] splitKeys = getSplitKeys();
-    util.getHBaseAdmin().createTable(htd, splitKeys);
-    waitForTableToBeOnline(util, tableName);
+    util.createTable(htd, splitKeys);
     assertEquals((splitKeys.length + 1) * regionReplication,
         util.getHBaseAdmin().getTableRegions(tableName).size());
   }
 
   public static byte[][] getSplitKeys() {
     byte[][] splitKeys = new byte[KEYS.length-2][];
-    byte[] hex = Bytes.toBytes("123456789abcde");
     for (int i = 0; i < splitKeys.length; ++i) {
       splitKeys[i] = new byte[] { KEYS[i+1] };
     }