diff --git a/spec/text-editor-presenter-spec.coffee b/spec/text-editor-presenter-spec.coffee
index 53066e26c..f539d7f27 100644
--- a/spec/text-editor-presenter-spec.coffee
+++ b/spec/text-editor-presenter-spec.coffee
@@ -2191,9 +2191,9 @@ describe "TextEditorPresenter", ->
         expect(presenter.getState().focused).toBe false
 
     describe ".gutters", ->
-      describe ".sortedDescriptions", ->
+      describe ".sortedModels", ->
         gutterDescriptionWithName = (presenter, name) ->
-          for gutterDesc in presenter.getState().gutters.sortedDescriptions
+          for gutterDesc in presenter.getState().gutters.sortedModels
             return gutterDesc if gutterDesc.name is name
           undefined
 
@@ -2235,13 +2235,10 @@ describe "TextEditorPresenter", ->
 
         it "updates when gutters are added to the editor model, and keeps the gutters sorted by priority", ->
           presenter = buildPresenter()
-          editor.addGutter({name: 'test-gutter-1', priority: -100, visible: true})
+          gutter1 = editor.addGutter({name: 'test-gutter-1', priority: -100, visible: true})
           editor.addGutter({name: 'test-gutter-2', priority: 100, visible: false})
-          expectedState = [
-            {name: 'test-gutter-1'},
-            {name: 'line-number'},
-          ]
-          expect(presenter.getState().gutters.sortedDescriptions).toEqual expectedState
+          expectedState = [gutter1, editor.gutterWithName('line-number')]
+          expect(presenter.getState().gutters.sortedModels).toEqual expectedState
 
         it "updates when the visibility of a gutter changes", ->
           presenter = buildPresenter()
diff --git a/src/gutter-container-component.coffee b/src/gutter-container-component.coffee
index aac219d03..9470ad11b 100644
--- a/src/gutter-container-component.coffee
+++ b/src/gutter-container-component.coffee
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ class GutterContainerComponent
   updateSync: (state) ->
     # The GutterContainerComponent expects the gutters to be sorted in the order
     # they should appear.
-    newState = state.gutters.sortedDescriptions
+    newState = state.gutters.sortedModels
 
     newGutterComponents = []
     newGutterComponentsByGutterName = {}
diff --git a/src/text-editor-component.coffee b/src/text-editor-component.coffee
index 89f541775..1355457c0 100644
--- a/src/text-editor-component.coffee
+++ b/src/text-editor-component.coffee
@@ -70,7 +70,7 @@ class TextEditorComponent
     @scrollViewNode.classList.add('scroll-view')
     @domNode.appendChild(@scrollViewNode)
 
-    @mountGutterContainerComponent() if @presenter.getState().gutters.sortedDescriptions.length
+    @mountGutterContainerComponent() if @presenter.getState().gutters.sortedModels.length
 
     @hiddenInputComponent = new InputComponent
     @scrollViewNode.appendChild(@hiddenInputComponent.domNode)
@@ -134,7 +134,7 @@ class TextEditorComponent
         else
           @domNode.style.height = ''
 
-    if @newState.gutters.sortedDescriptions.length
+    if @newState.gutters.sortedModels.length
       @mountGutterContainerComponent() unless @gutterContainerComponent?
       @gutterContainerComponent.updateSync(@newState)
     else
diff --git a/src/text-editor-presenter.coffee b/src/text-editor-presenter.coffee
index 085244f51..6783c10a1 100644
--- a/src/text-editor-presenter.coffee
+++ b/src/text-editor-presenter.coffee
@@ -182,7 +182,7 @@ class TextEditorPresenter
       lineNumberGutter:
         lineNumbers: {}
       gutters:
-        sortedDescriptions: []
+        sortedModels: []
         customDecorations: {}
     @updateState()
 
@@ -405,7 +405,7 @@ class TextEditorPresenter
       # For now, just match the background color of the line-number gutter.
       # TODO: Allow gutters to have different background colors. (?)
       @state.gutters.backgroundColor = @getGutterBackgroundColor()
-      @state.gutters.sortedDescriptions = []
+      @state.gutters.sortedModels = []
       if @model.isMini()
         return
       for gutter in @model.getGutters()
@@ -413,7 +413,7 @@ class TextEditorPresenter
         if gutter.name is 'line-number'
           isVisible = isVisible && @showLineNumbers
         if isVisible
-          @state.gutters.sortedDescriptions.push({name: gutter.name})
+          @state.gutters.sortedModels.push(gutter)
 
   # Updates the decoration state for the gutter with the given gutterName.
   # @state.gutters.customDecorations is an {Object}, with the form: