diff --git a/imagekit/conf.py b/imagekit/conf.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..51ddf55
--- /dev/null
+++ b/imagekit/conf.py
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+from appconf import AppConf
+
+
+class ImageKitConf(AppConf):
+    DEFAULT_IMAGE_CACHE_BACKEND = 'imagekit.imagecache.PessimisticImageCacheBackend'
diff --git a/imagekit/imagecache/__init__.py b/imagekit/imagecache/__init__.py
index 3c582c8..cf98a9d 100644
--- a/imagekit/imagecache/__init__.py
+++ b/imagekit/imagecache/__init__.py
@@ -14,7 +14,8 @@ def get_default_image_cache_backend():
     """
     global _default_image_cache_backend
     if not _default_image_cache_backend:
-        from ..settings import DEFAULT_IMAGE_CACHE_BACKEND as import_path
+        from django.conf import settings
+        import_path = settings.IMAGEKIT_DEFAULT_IMAGE_CACHE_BACKEND
         try:
             dot = import_path.rindex('.')
         except ValueError:
diff --git a/imagekit/models/__init__.py b/imagekit/models/__init__.py
index c5ef221..4207987 100644
--- a/imagekit/models/__init__.py
+++ b/imagekit/models/__init__.py
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+from .. import conf
 from .fields import ImageSpecField, ProcessedImageField
 import warnings
 
diff --git a/imagekit/settings.py b/imagekit/settings.py
deleted file mode 100644
index d84030d..0000000
--- a/imagekit/settings.py
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,5 +0,0 @@
-from django.conf import settings
-
-DEFAULT_IMAGE_CACHE_BACKEND = getattr(settings,
-        'IMAGEKIT_DEFAULT_IMAGE_CACHE_BACKEND',
-        'imagekit.imagecache.PessimisticImageCacheBackend')
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 6fdb8fb..6f662f9 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -28,6 +28,9 @@ setup(
     packages=find_packages(),
     zip_safe=False,
     include_package_data=True,
+    install_requires=[
+        'django-appconf>=0.5',
+    ],
     classifiers=[
         'Development Status :: 5 - Production/Stable',
         'Environment :: Web Environment',