diff --git a/curator-recipes/src/main/java/org/apache/curator/framework/recipes/cache/CuratorCacheImpl.java b/curator-recipes/src/main/java/org/apache/curator/framework/recipes/cache/CuratorCacheImpl.java
index 23268f5e6..5d6dae576 100644
--- a/curator-recipes/src/main/java/org/apache/curator/framework/recipes/cache/CuratorCacheImpl.java
+++ b/curator-recipes/src/main/java/org/apache/curator/framework/recipes/cache/CuratorCacheImpl.java
@@ -77,9 +77,9 @@ private enum State {
             Consumer<Exception> exceptionHandler) {
         Set<Options> options = (optionsArg != null) ? Sets.newHashSet(optionsArg) : Collections.emptySet();
         this.client = client;
-        this.storage = (storage != null) ? storage : CuratorCacheStorage.standard();
-        this.path = path;
         recursive = !options.contains(Options.SINGLE_NODE_CACHE);
+        this.storage = (storage != null) ? storage : (recursive ? CuratorCacheStorage.standard() : CuratorCacheStorage.singleNode());
+        this.path = path;
         compressedData = options.contains(Options.COMPRESSED_DATA);
         clearOnClose = !options.contains(Options.DO_NOT_CLEAR_ON_CLOSE);
         persistentWatcher = new PersistentWatcher(client, path, recursive);
diff --git a/curator-recipes/src/main/java/org/apache/curator/framework/recipes/cache/CuratorCacheStorage.java b/curator-recipes/src/main/java/org/apache/curator/framework/recipes/cache/CuratorCacheStorage.java
index 3648503ae..4ecc6d041 100644
--- a/curator-recipes/src/main/java/org/apache/curator/framework/recipes/cache/CuratorCacheStorage.java
+++ b/curator-recipes/src/main/java/org/apache/curator/framework/recipes/cache/CuratorCacheStorage.java
@@ -35,6 +35,28 @@ static CuratorCacheStorage standard() {
         return new StandardCuratorCacheStorage(true);
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Return a new storage instance optimized for a single-node cache
+     * (i.e. a {@link CuratorCache} built with {@link CuratorCache.Options#SINGLE_NODE_CACHE}).
+     * Only a single node is stored, so a lightweight {@link java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicReference}
+     * is used instead of a concurrent map.
+     *
+     * @return single-node storage instance
+     */
+    static CuratorCacheStorage singleNode() {
+        return new SingleNodeCuratorCacheStorage(true);
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Return a new single-node storage instance that does not retain the data bytes, i.e. ChildData
+     * objects returned by this storage will always return {@code null} for {@link ChildData#getData()}.
+     *
+     * @return single-node storage instance that does not retain data bytes
+     */
+    static CuratorCacheStorage singleNodeDataNotCached() {
+        return new SingleNodeCuratorCacheStorage(false);
+    }
+
     /**
      * Return a new storage instance that does not retain the data bytes. i.e. ChildData objects
      * returned by this storage will always return {@code null} for {@link ChildData#getData()}.
diff --git a/curator-recipes/src/main/java/org/apache/curator/framework/recipes/cache/SingleNodeCuratorCacheStorage.java b/curator-recipes/src/main/java/org/apache/curator/framework/recipes/cache/SingleNodeCuratorCacheStorage.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..ff92e5161
--- /dev/null
+++ b/curator-recipes/src/main/java/org/apache/curator/framework/recipes/cache/SingleNodeCuratorCacheStorage.java
@@ -0,0 +1,72 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+ * or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+ * distributed with this work for additional information
+ * regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+ * to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
+ * "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
+ * with the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *   http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
+ * software distributed under the License is distributed on an
+ * "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
+ * KIND, either express or implied.  See the License for the
+ * specific language governing permissions and limitations
+ * under the License.
+ */
+
+package org.apache.curator.framework.recipes.cache;
+
+import java.util.Optional;
+import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicReference;
+import java.util.stream.Stream;
+
+/**
+ * Storage implementation optimized for a {@link CuratorCache} created with the
+ * {@link CuratorCache.Options#SINGLE_NODE_CACHE} option. In that mode only a
+ * single node is cached, so a single {@link AtomicReference} is sufficient
+ * instead of a {@link java.util.concurrent.ConcurrentHashMap}.
+ */
+class SingleNodeCuratorCacheStorage implements CuratorCacheStorage {
+    private final AtomicReference<ChildData> data = new AtomicReference<>(null);
+    private final boolean cacheBytes;
+
+    SingleNodeCuratorCacheStorage(boolean cacheBytes) {
+        this.cacheBytes = cacheBytes;
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public Optional<ChildData> put(ChildData childData) {
+        ChildData localData = cacheBytes ? childData : new ChildData(childData.getPath(), childData.getStat(), null);
+        return Optional.ofNullable(data.getAndSet(localData));
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public Optional<ChildData> remove(String path) {
+        return Optional.ofNullable(data.getAndUpdate(current -> current != null && current.getPath().equals(path) ? null : current));
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public Optional<ChildData> get(String path) {
+        ChildData childData = data.get();
+        return (childData != null && childData.getPath().equals(path)) ? Optional.of(childData) : Optional.empty();
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public int size() {
+        return (data.get() != null) ? 1 : 0;
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public Stream<ChildData> stream() {
+        ChildData childData = data.get();
+        return (childData != null) ? Stream.of(childData) : Stream.empty();
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public void clear() {
+        data.set(null);
+    }
+}