diff --git a/drivers/lightnvm/pblk-init.c b/drivers/lightnvm/pblk-init.c
index 0e37104de5968beebff917d5e245fd0fa9a07b61..72ad3e70318c0daefbb68ca4424cfe00861cf087 100644
--- a/drivers/lightnvm/pblk-init.c
+++ b/drivers/lightnvm/pblk-init.c
@@ -347,23 +347,19 @@ static int pblk_create_global_caches(void)
 
 static int pblk_get_global_caches(void)
 {
-	int ret;
+	int ret = 0;
 
 	mutex_lock(&pblk_caches.mutex);
 
-	if (kref_read(&pblk_caches.kref) > 0) {
-		kref_get(&pblk_caches.kref);
-		mutex_unlock(&pblk_caches.mutex);
-		return 0;
-	}
+	if (kref_get_unless_zero(&pblk_caches.kref))
+		goto out;
 
 	ret = pblk_create_global_caches();
-
 	if (!ret)
-		kref_get(&pblk_caches.kref);
+		kref_init(&pblk_caches.kref);
 
+out:
 	mutex_unlock(&pblk_caches.mutex);
-
 	return ret;
 }