diff --git a/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/cache/InstrumentingCache.java b/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/cache/InstrumentingCache.java
index 494dbbc561..d657d64adf 100644
--- a/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/cache/InstrumentingCache.java
+++ b/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/cache/InstrumentingCache.java
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@ public class InstrumentingCache<K, V>
 {
     private final ICache<K, V> map;
     private final String type;
+    private volatile boolean enabled;
 
     private CacheMetrics metrics;
 
@@ -35,6 +36,7 @@ public class InstrumentingCache<K, V>
     {
         this.map = map;
         this.type = type;
+        enabled = !(map instanceof NopCacheProvider.NopCache) && map.capacity() > 0;
         this.metrics = new CacheMetrics(type, map);
     }
 
@@ -82,6 +84,12 @@ public class InstrumentingCache<K, V>
     public void setCapacity(long capacity)
     {
         map.setCapacity(capacity);
+        enabled = capacity > 0;
+    }
+
+    public boolean enabled()
+    {
+        return enabled;
     }
 
     public int size()
diff --git a/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/cache/NopCacheProvider.java b/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/cache/NopCacheProvider.java
index 9b8a3dcdf1..22fd6456cd 100644
--- a/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/cache/NopCacheProvider.java
+++ b/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/cache/NopCacheProvider.java
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ public class NopCacheProvider implements CacheProvider<RowCacheKey, IRowCacheEnt
         return new NopCache();
     }
 
-    private static class NopCache implements ICache<RowCacheKey, IRowCacheEntry>
+    static class NopCache implements ICache<RowCacheKey, IRowCacheEntry>
     {
         public long capacity()
         {
diff --git a/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/io/sstable/format/SSTableReader.java b/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/io/sstable/format/SSTableReader.java
index f26cf65c93..ccdaf593a4 100644
--- a/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/io/sstable/format/SSTableReader.java
+++ b/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/io/sstable/format/SSTableReader.java
@@ -519,7 +519,7 @@ public abstract class SSTableReader extends SSTable implements UnfilteredSource,
             if (validate)
                 sstable.validate();
 
-            if (sstable.getKeyCache() != null)
+            if (logger.isTraceEnabled() && sstable.getKeyCache() != null && sstable.getKeyCache().enabled())
                 logger.trace("key cache contains {}/{} keys", sstable.getKeyCache().size(), sstable.getKeyCache().getCapacity());
 
             return sstable;
@@ -717,7 +717,7 @@ public abstract class SSTableReader extends SSTable implements UnfilteredSource,
         // e.g. by BulkLoader, which does not initialize the cache.  As a kludge, we set up the cache
         // here when we know we're being wired into the rest of the server infrastructure.
         InstrumentingCache<KeyCacheKey, RowIndexEntry> maybeKeyCache = CacheService.instance.keyCache;
-        if (maybeKeyCache.getCapacity() > 0)
+        if (maybeKeyCache.enabled())
             keyCache = maybeKeyCache;
 
         final ColumnFamilyStore cfs = Schema.instance.getColumnFamilyStoreInstance(metadata().id);
@@ -1333,7 +1333,7 @@ public abstract class SSTableReader extends SSTable implements UnfilteredSource,
     {
         CachingParams caching = metadata().params.caching;
 
-        if (!caching.cacheKeys() || keyCache == null || keyCache.getCapacity() == 0)
+        if (!caching.cacheKeys() || keyCache == null || !keyCache.enabled())
             return;
 
         KeyCacheKey cacheKey = new KeyCacheKey(metadata(), descriptor, key.getKey());