diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index cafd598..2ea307f 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -1,2 +1,3 @@
 __pycache__/
-.venv/
\ No newline at end of file
+.venv/
+.DS_Store
diff --git a/mlx_engine/cache_wrapper.py b/mlx_engine/cache_wrapper.py
index 09684a0..9c0cde3 100644
--- a/mlx_engine/cache_wrapper.py
+++ b/mlx_engine/cache_wrapper.py
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
     trim_prompt_cache,
     can_trim_prompt_cache,
 )
-from mlx_lm.utils import generation_stream
+from mlx_lm.utils import generation_stream, maybe_quantize_kv_cache
 import mlx.core as mx
 import mlx.nn as nn
 import sys
@@ -21,7 +21,11 @@ def __init__(
         self,
         model: nn.Module,
         max_kv_size: Optional[int],
+        *,
         verbose: bool = False,
+        kv_bits: Optional[int] = None,
+        kv_group_size: Optional[int] = None,
+        quantized_kv_start: Optional[int] = None,
     ):
         """
         Initialize the CacheWrapper.
@@ -37,6 +41,11 @@ def __init__(
         self.draft_model: Optional[nn.Module] = None
         self.max_kv_size = max_kv_size
         self.verbose = verbose
+        self.kv_cache_qtn_params = dict(
+            kv_bits=kv_bits,
+            kv_group_size=kv_group_size,
+            quantized_kv_start=quantized_kv_start,
+        )
 
     @staticmethod
     def _find_common_prefix(
@@ -151,6 +160,7 @@ def _prefill(
             current_chunk = remaining_tokens[:current_chunk_size]
 
             model(current_chunk[None], cache=cache)
+            maybe_quantize_kv_cache(prompt_cache=cache, **self.kv_cache_qtn_params)
             mx.eval([c.state for c in cache])
 
             remaining_tokens = remaining_tokens[current_chunk_size:]
diff --git a/mlx_engine/model_kit.py b/mlx_engine/model_kit.py
index 5bf115f..d556c1f 100644
--- a/mlx_engine/model_kit.py
+++ b/mlx_engine/model_kit.py
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 import sys
-from typing import List, Optional
+from typing import List, Optional, Tuple
 
 from mlx_engine.logging import log_info, log_warn
 import mlx_lm
@@ -58,8 +58,10 @@ def _full_model_init(
         kv_group_size: Optional[int] = None,
         quantized_kv_start: Optional[int] = None,
     ):
-        self._validate_kv_cache_quantization_params(
-            kv_bits, kv_group_size, quantized_kv_start
+        kv_bits, kv_group_size, quantized_kv_start = (
+            self._get_kv_cache_quantization_params(
+                kv_bits, kv_group_size, quantized_kv_start
+            )
         )
         if kv_bits and max_kv_size is not None:
             # Quantized KV cache is only supported for non-rotating KV cache
@@ -73,7 +75,13 @@ def _full_model_init(
         log_info(prefix="ModelKit", message=f"Loading model from {model_path}...")
         self.model, self.tokenizer = mlx_lm.utils.load(self.model_path)
         self.detokenizer = self.tokenizer.detokenizer
-        self.cache_wrapper = CacheWrapper(self.model, max_kv_size)
+        self.cache_wrapper = CacheWrapper(
+            self.model,
+            max_kv_size,
+            kv_bits=kv_bits,
+            kv_group_size=kv_group_size,
+            quantized_kv_start=quantized_kv_start,
+        )
         self.kv_bits = kv_bits
         self.kv_group_size = kv_group_size
         self.quantized_kv_start = quantized_kv_start
@@ -100,23 +108,49 @@ def __init__(
             )
 
     @staticmethod
-    def _validate_kv_cache_quantization_params(
+    def _get_kv_cache_quantization_params(
         kv_bits: Optional[int],
         kv_group_size: Optional[int],
         quantized_kv_start: Optional[int],
-    ):
+    ) -> Tuple[Optional[int], Optional[int], Optional[int]]:
+        """
+        Validates and processes KV cache quantization parameters.
+
+        Args:
+            kv_bits: Number of bits for quantization. If None, disables quantization.
+            kv_group_size: Group size for quantization. Defaults to 64 if quantization enabled.
+            quantized_kv_start: Step to begin quantization. Defaults to 0 if quantization enabled.
+
+        Returns:
+            Tuple of (kv_bits, kv_group_size, quantized_kv_start), all None if quantization disabled.
+
+        Raises:
+            ValueError: If kv_bits is invalid or missing when other params are set.
+        """
         if any([kv_group_size, quantized_kv_start]) and kv_bits is None:
             raise ValueError(
                 "Enabling KV Cache Quantization requires kv_bits to be set"
             )
 
-        if kv_bits and kv_bits not in VALID_KV_BITS:
+        if kv_bits is None:
+            return None, None, None
+
+        # defaults taken from here:
+        # https://github.com/ml-explore/mlx-examples/blob/3d793ec/llms/mlx_lm/utils.py#L352-L353
+        if kv_group_size is None:
+            kv_group_size = 64
+        if quantized_kv_start is None:
+            quantized_kv_start = 0
+
+        if kv_bits not in VALID_KV_BITS:
             raise ValueError(f"Invalid kv_bits value. Must be one of {VALID_KV_BITS}")
-        if kv_group_size and kv_group_size not in VALID_KV_GROUP_SIZE:
+        if kv_group_size not in VALID_KV_GROUP_SIZE:
             raise ValueError(
                 f"Invalid kv_group_size value. Must be one of {VALID_KV_GROUP_SIZE}"
             )
 
+        return kv_bits, kv_group_size, quantized_kv_start
+
     def tokenize(self, prompt: str) -> List[int]:
         ids = self.tokenizer.convert_tokens_to_ids(self.tokenizer.tokenize(prompt))
         if type(ids) == int: