diff --git a/lib/spack/spack/__init__.py b/lib/spack/spack/__init__.py
index e9c4f4191c..863e8f8016 100644
--- a/lib/spack/spack/__init__.py
+++ b/lib/spack/spack/__init__.py
@@ -23,12 +23,9 @@
 # License along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
 # Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307 USA
 ##############################################################################
-import os
 import sys
 import multiprocessing
 
-from spack.paths import var_path, user_config_path
-
 #-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 # Below code imports spack packages.
 #-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
@@ -44,20 +41,8 @@
 from spack.util.path import canonicalize_path
 
 
-# handle basic configuration first
 _config = spack.config.get_config('config')
 
-
-# Path where downloaded source code is cached
-cache_path = canonicalize_path(
-    _config.get('source_cache', os.path.join(var_path, "cache")))
-
-
-# cache for miscellaneous stuff.
-misc_cache_path = canonicalize_path(
-    _config.get('misc_cache', os.path.join(user_config_path, 'cache')))
-
-
 # TODO: get this out of __init__.py
 binary_cache_retrieved_specs = set()
 
@@ -102,13 +87,6 @@
 spack_version = Version("0.11.2")
 
 
-# set up the caches after getting all config options
-import spack.fetch_strategy
-from spack.file_cache import FileCache
-misc_cache = FileCache(misc_cache_path)
-fetch_cache = spack.fetch_strategy.FsCache(cache_path)
-
-
 # Set up the default packages database.
 import spack.error
 try:
diff --git a/lib/spack/spack/caches.py b/lib/spack/spack/caches.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..ff2bb7a7c6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/spack/spack/caches.py
@@ -0,0 +1,73 @@
+##############################################################################
+# Copyright (c) 2013-2018, Lawrence Livermore National Security, LLC.
+# Produced at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.
+#
+# This file is part of Spack.
+# Created by Todd Gamblin, tgamblin@llnl.gov, All rights reserved.
+# LLNL-CODE-647188
+#
+# For details, see https://github.com/spack/spack
+# Please also see the NOTICE and LICENSE files for our notice and the LGPL.
+#
+# This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
+# it under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License (as
+# published by the Free Software Foundation) version 2.1, February 1999.
+#
+# This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
+# WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the IMPLIED WARRANTY OF
+# MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the terms and
+# conditions of the GNU Lesser General Public License for more details.
+#
+# You should have received a copy of the GNU Lesser General Public
+# License along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
+# Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307 USA
+##############################################################################
+"""Caches used by Spack to store data"""
+import os
+import spack.paths
+import spack.config
+import spack.fetch_strategy
+from spack.util.path import canonicalize_path
+from spack.util.file_cache import FileCache
+
+
+_misc_cache = None
+_fetch_cache = None
+
+
+def misc_cache():
+    """The ``misc_cache`` is Spack's cache for small data.
+
+    Currently the ``misc_cache`` stores indexes for virtual dependency
+    providers and for which packages provide which tags.
+    """
+    global _misc_cache
+
+    if _misc_cache is None:
+        config = spack.config.get_config('config')
+        path = config.get('misc_cache')
+        if not path:
+            path = os.path.join(spack.paths.user_config_path, 'cache')
+        path = canonicalize_path(path)
+        _misc_cache = FileCache(path)
+
+    return _misc_cache
+
+
+def fetch_cache():
+    """Filesystem cache of downloaded archives.
+
+    This prevents Spack from repeatedly fetch the same files when
+    building the same package different ways or multiple times.
+    """
+    global _fetch_cache
+
+    if _fetch_cache is None:
+        config = spack.config.get_config('config')
+        path = config.get('source_cache')
+        if not path:
+            path = os.path.join(spack.paths.var_path, "cache")
+        path = canonicalize_path(path)
+        _fetch_cache = spack.fetch_strategy.FsCache(path)
+
+    return _fetch_cache
diff --git a/lib/spack/spack/cmd/clean.py b/lib/spack/spack/cmd/clean.py
index c072bac251..83d5116d0e 100644
--- a/lib/spack/spack/cmd/clean.py
+++ b/lib/spack/spack/cmd/clean.py
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@
 import llnl.util.tty as tty
 
 import spack
+import spack.caches
 import spack.cmd
 
 description = "remove temporary build files and/or downloaded archives"
@@ -81,8 +82,8 @@ def clean(parser, args):
 
     if args.downloads:
         tty.msg('Removing cached downloads')
-        spack.fetch_cache.destroy()
+        spack.caches.fetch_cache().destroy()
 
     if args.misc_cache:
         tty.msg('Removing cached information on repositories')
-        spack.misc_cache.destroy()
+        spack.caches.misc_cache().destroy()
diff --git a/lib/spack/spack/repository.py b/lib/spack/spack/repository.py
index 8a713b1a39..d22b5e269e 100644
--- a/lib/spack/spack/repository.py
+++ b/lib/spack/spack/repository.py
@@ -48,6 +48,7 @@
 from llnl.util.filesystem import mkdirp, join_path, install
 
 import spack
+import spack.caches
 import spack.error
 import spack.spec
 from spack.provider_index import ProviderIndex
@@ -252,7 +253,8 @@ def make_provider_index_cache(packages_path, namespace):
     cache_filename = 'providers/{0}-index.yaml'.format(namespace)
 
     # Compute which packages needs to be updated in the cache
-    index_mtime = spack.misc_cache.mtime(cache_filename)
+    misc_cache = spack.caches.misc_cache()
+    index_mtime = misc_cache.mtime(cache_filename)
 
     needs_update = [
         x for x, sinfo in fast_package_checker.items()
@@ -260,19 +262,19 @@ def make_provider_index_cache(packages_path, namespace):
     ]
 
     # Read the old ProviderIndex, or make a new one.
-    index_existed = spack.misc_cache.init_entry(cache_filename)
+    index_existed = misc_cache.init_entry(cache_filename)
 
     if index_existed and not needs_update:
 
         # If the provider index exists and doesn't need an update
         # just read from it
-        with spack.misc_cache.read_transaction(cache_filename) as f:
+        with misc_cache.read_transaction(cache_filename) as f:
             index = ProviderIndex.from_yaml(f)
 
     else:
 
         # Otherwise we need a write transaction to update it
-        with spack.misc_cache.write_transaction(cache_filename) as (old, new):
+        with misc_cache.write_transaction(cache_filename) as (old, new):
 
             index = ProviderIndex.from_yaml(old) if old else ProviderIndex()
 
@@ -305,7 +307,8 @@ def make_tag_index_cache(packages_path, namespace):
     cache_filename = 'tags/{0}-index.json'.format(namespace)
 
     # Compute which packages needs to be updated in the cache
-    index_mtime = spack.misc_cache.mtime(cache_filename)
+    misc_cache = spack.caches.misc_cache()
+    index_mtime = misc_cache.mtime(cache_filename)
 
     needs_update = [
         x for x, sinfo in fast_package_checker.items()
@@ -313,19 +316,19 @@ def make_tag_index_cache(packages_path, namespace):
     ]
 
     # Read the old ProviderIndex, or make a new one.
-    index_existed = spack.misc_cache.init_entry(cache_filename)
+    index_existed = misc_cache.init_entry(cache_filename)
 
     if index_existed and not needs_update:
 
         # If the provider index exists and doesn't need an update
         # just read from it
-        with spack.misc_cache.read_transaction(cache_filename) as f:
+        with misc_cache.read_transaction(cache_filename) as f:
             index = TagIndex.from_json(f)
 
     else:
 
         # Otherwise we need a write transaction to update it
-        with spack.misc_cache.write_transaction(cache_filename) as (old, new):
+        with misc_cache.write_transaction(cache_filename) as (old, new):
 
             index = TagIndex.from_json(old) if old else TagIndex()
 
diff --git a/lib/spack/spack/stage.py b/lib/spack/spack/stage.py
index d282786370..b119a874bb 100644
--- a/lib/spack/spack/stage.py
+++ b/lib/spack/spack/stage.py
@@ -39,6 +39,7 @@
 from llnl.util.filesystem import remove_if_dead_link, remove_linked_tree
 
 import spack.paths
+import spack.caches
 import spack.config
 import spack.error
 import spack.fetch_strategy as fs
@@ -408,7 +409,7 @@ def fetch(self, mirror_only=False):
                         url, digest, expand=expand, extension=extension))
             if self.default_fetcher.cachable:
                 fetchers.insert(
-                    0, spack.fetch_cache.fetcher(
+                    0, spack.caches.fetch_cache().fetcher(
                         self.mirror_path, digest, expand=expand,
                         extension=extension))
 
@@ -455,7 +456,7 @@ def check(self):
             self.fetcher.check()
 
     def cache_local(self):
-        spack.fetch_cache.store(self.fetcher, self.mirror_path)
+        spack.caches.fetch_cache().store(self.fetcher, self.mirror_path)
 
     def expand_archive(self):
         """Changes to the stage directory and attempt to expand the downloaded
diff --git a/lib/spack/spack/test/cmd/clean.py b/lib/spack/spack/test/cmd/clean.py
index 9231029c90..3bc5e4c184 100644
--- a/lib/spack/spack/test/cmd/clean.py
+++ b/lib/spack/spack/test/cmd/clean.py
@@ -23,7 +23,8 @@
 # Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307 USA
 ##############################################################################
 import pytest
-import spack
+import spack.stage
+import spack.caches
 import spack.main
 import spack.package
 
@@ -42,8 +43,10 @@ def __call__(self, *args, **kwargs):
 
     monkeypatch.setattr(spack.package.PackageBase, 'do_clean', Counter())
     monkeypatch.setattr(spack.stage, 'purge', Counter())
-    monkeypatch.setattr(spack.fetch_cache, 'destroy', Counter(), raising=False)
-    monkeypatch.setattr(spack.misc_cache, 'destroy', Counter())
+    monkeypatch.setattr(
+        spack.caches._fetch_cache, 'destroy', Counter(), raising=False)
+    monkeypatch.setattr(
+        spack.caches._misc_cache, 'destroy', Counter())
 
 
 @pytest.mark.usefixtures(
@@ -66,5 +69,5 @@ def test_function_calls(command_line, counters):
     # number of times
     assert spack.package.PackageBase.do_clean.call_count == counters[0]
     assert spack.stage.purge.call_count == counters[1]
-    assert spack.fetch_cache.destroy.call_count == counters[2]
-    assert spack.misc_cache.destroy.call_count == counters[3]
+    assert spack.caches.fetch_cache().destroy.call_count == counters[2]
+    assert spack.caches.misc_cache().destroy.call_count == counters[3]
diff --git a/lib/spack/spack/test/conftest.py b/lib/spack/spack/test/conftest.py
index 997cdb724c..6b60c31a4f 100644
--- a/lib/spack/spack/test/conftest.py
+++ b/lib/spack/spack/test/conftest.py
@@ -36,10 +36,11 @@
 from llnl.util.filesystem import remove_linked_tree
 
 import spack
-import spack.paths
 import spack.architecture
+import spack.caches
 import spack.database
 import spack.directory_layout
+import spack.paths
 import spack.platforms.test
 import spack.repository
 import spack.stage
@@ -155,7 +156,7 @@ def fetch(self):
         def __str__(self):
             return "[mock fetch cache]"
 
-    monkeypatch.setattr(spack, 'fetch_cache', MockCache())
+    monkeypatch.setattr(spack.caches, '_fetch_cache', MockCache())
 
 
 # FIXME: The lines below should better be added to a fixture with
diff --git a/lib/spack/spack/test/file_cache.py b/lib/spack/spack/test/util/file_cache.py
similarity index 98%
rename from lib/spack/spack/test/file_cache.py
rename to lib/spack/spack/test/util/file_cache.py
index c3c87296d2..4079a8d160 100644
--- a/lib/spack/spack/test/file_cache.py
+++ b/lib/spack/spack/test/util/file_cache.py
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@
 import os
 
 import pytest
-from spack.file_cache import FileCache
+from spack.util.file_cache import FileCache
 
 
 @pytest.fixture()
diff --git a/lib/spack/spack/file_cache.py b/lib/spack/spack/util/file_cache.py
similarity index 100%
rename from lib/spack/spack/file_cache.py
rename to lib/spack/spack/util/file_cache.py