diff --git a/middleware/cache/handler.go b/middleware/cache/handler.go
index 51e3731bd..35443fa1d 100644
--- a/middleware/cache/handler.go
+++ b/middleware/cache/handler.go
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ import (
 	"github.com/miekg/coredns/middleware"
 
 	"github.com/miekg/dns"
+	"github.com/prometheus/client_golang/prometheus"
 	"golang.org/x/net/context"
 )
 
@@ -24,8 +25,12 @@ func (c Cache) ServeDNS(ctx context.Context, w dns.ResponseWriter, r *dns.Msg) (
 		resp := i.toMsg(r)
 		state.SizeAndDo(resp)
 		w.WriteMsg(resp)
+
+		cacheHitCount.WithLabelValues(zone).Inc()
 		return dns.RcodeSuccess, nil
 	}
+	cacheMissCount.WithLabelValues(zone).Inc()
+
 	crr := NewCachingResponseWriter(w, c.cache, c.cap)
 	return c.Next.ServeDNS(ctx, crr, r)
 }
@@ -42,3 +47,26 @@ func (c Cache) Get(qname string, qtype uint16, do bool) (*item, bool) {
 	}
 	return nil, false
 }
+
+var (
+	cacheHitCount = prometheus.NewCounterVec(prometheus.CounterOpts{
+		Namespace: middleware.Namespace,
+		Subsystem: subsystem,
+		Name:      "hit_count_total",
+		Help:      "Counter of DNS requests that were found in the cache.",
+	}, []string{"zone"})
+
+	cacheMissCount = prometheus.NewCounterVec(prometheus.CounterOpts{
+		Namespace: middleware.Namespace,
+		Subsystem: subsystem,
+		Name:      "miss_count_total",
+		Help:      "Counter of DNS requests that were not found in the cache.",
+	}, []string{"zone"})
+)
+
+const subsystem = "cache"
+
+func init() {
+	prometheus.MustRegister(cacheHitCount)
+	prometheus.MustRegister(cacheMissCount)
+}
diff --git a/middleware/metrics/metrics.go b/middleware/metrics/metrics.go
index a4224c6fe..35f411073 100644
--- a/middleware/metrics/metrics.go
+++ b/middleware/metrics/metrics.go
@@ -6,11 +6,10 @@ import (
 	"sync"
 
 	"github.com/miekg/coredns/middleware"
+
 	"github.com/prometheus/client_golang/prometheus"
 )
 
-const namespace = "coredns"
-
 var (
 	requestCount    *prometheus.CounterVec
 	requestDuration *prometheus.HistogramVec
@@ -48,18 +47,15 @@ func (m *Metrics) Start() error {
 }
 
 func define(subsystem string) {
-	if subsystem == "" {
-		subsystem = "dns"
-	}
 	requestCount = prometheus.NewCounterVec(prometheus.CounterOpts{
-		Namespace: namespace,
+		Namespace: middleware.Namespace,
 		Subsystem: subsystem,
 		Name:      "request_count_total",
 		Help:      "Counter of DNS requests made per zone and protocol.",
 	}, []string{"zone", "proto"})
 
 	requestDuration = prometheus.NewHistogramVec(prometheus.HistogramOpts{
-		Namespace: namespace,
+		Namespace: middleware.Namespace,
 		Subsystem: subsystem,
 		Name:      "request_duration_seconds",
 		Buckets:   append([]float64{.0001, .0005, .001, .0025}, prometheus.DefBuckets...),
@@ -67,7 +63,7 @@ func define(subsystem string) {
 	}, []string{"zone"})
 
 	responseSize = prometheus.NewHistogramVec(prometheus.HistogramOpts{
-		Namespace: namespace,
+		Namespace: middleware.Namespace,
 		Subsystem: subsystem,
 		Name:      "response_size_bytes",
 		Help:      "Size of the returns response in bytes.",
@@ -75,12 +71,16 @@ func define(subsystem string) {
 	}, []string{"zone"})
 
 	responseRcode = prometheus.NewCounterVec(prometheus.CounterOpts{
-		Namespace: namespace,
+		Namespace: middleware.Namespace,
 		Subsystem: subsystem,
 		Name:      "response_rcode_count_total",
 		Help:      "Counter of response status codes.",
 	}, []string{"zone", "rcode"})
 }
 
-// Dropped indicates we dropped the query before any handling. It has no closing dot, so it can not be a valid zone.
-const Dropped = "dropped"
+const (
+	// Dropped indicates we dropped the query before any handling. It has no closing dot, so it can not be a valid zone.
+	Dropped = "dropped"
+
+	subsystem = "dns"
+)
diff --git a/middleware/middleware.go b/middleware/middleware.go
index 4ceda5940..fa6be487d 100644
--- a/middleware/middleware.go
+++ b/middleware/middleware.go
@@ -54,6 +54,8 @@ func (f HandlerFunc) ServeDNS(ctx context.Context, w dns.ResponseWriter, r *dns.
 	return f(ctx, w, r)
 }
 
+const Namespace = "coredns"
+
 // IndexFile looks for a file in /root/fpath/indexFile for each string
 // in indexFiles. If an index file is found, it returns the root-relative
 // path to the file and true. If no index file is found, empty string