diff --git a/src/declarativeimports/plasmacomponents/CMakeLists.txt b/src/declarativeimports/plasmacomponents/CMakeLists.txt
index 4334ea732..a7bdeb358 100644
--- a/src/declarativeimports/plasmacomponents/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/src/declarativeimports/plasmacomponents/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ set(plasmacomponents_SRCS
     enums.cpp
     qmenu.cpp
     qmenuitem.cpp
+    units.cpp
     #../core/declarativeitemcontainer.cpp
     )
 
diff --git a/src/declarativeimports/plasmacomponents/units.cpp b/src/declarativeimports/plasmacomponents/units.cpp
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..0f641f6e9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/declarativeimports/plasmacomponents/units.cpp
@@ -0,0 +1,75 @@
+/***************************************************************************
+ *   Copyright 2013 Marco Martin <mart@kde.org            >                *
+ *                                                                         *
+ *   This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify  *
+ *   it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by  *
+ *   the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or     *
+ *   (at your option) any later version.                                   *
+ *                                                                         *
+ *   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         *
+ *   GNU General Public License for more details.                          *
+ *                                                                         *
+ *   You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License     *
+ *   along with this program; if not, write to the                         *
+ *   Free Software Foundation, Inc.,                                       *
+ *   51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA  02110-1301  USA .        *
+ ***************************************************************************/
+
+#include "units.h"
+
+#include <QApplication>
+#include <QDebug>
+#include <QDesktopWidget>
+#include <QtGlobal>
+#include <cmath>
+
+
+Units::Units (QObject *parent)
+    : QObject(parent),
+      m_gridUnit(-1)
+{
+    themeChanged();
+    connect(&m_theme, SIGNAL(themeChanged()),
+            this, SLOT(themeChanged()));
+}
+
+Units::~Units()
+{
+}
+
+qreal Units::gridUnit() const
+{
+    return m_gridUnit;
+}
+
+qreal Units::dp(qreal value) const
+{
+    //Usual "default" is 96 dpi
+    //that magic ratio follows the definition of "device independent pixel" by Microsoft
+    const qreal ratio = (qreal)QApplication::desktop()->physicalDpiX() / (qreal)96;
+
+    if (value <= 2.0) {
+        return qRound(value * floor(ratio));
+    } else {
+        return qRound(value * ratio);
+    }
+}
+
+qreal Units::gu(qreal value) const
+{
+    return qRound(m_gridUnit * value);
+}
+
+void Units::themeChanged()
+{
+    const int gridUnit = QFontMetrics(QApplication::font()).boundingRect("M").width();
+    if (gridUnit != m_gridUnit) {
+        m_gridUnit = gridUnit;
+        emit gridUnitChanged();
+    }
+}
+
+#include "units.moc"
+
diff --git a/src/declarativeimports/plasmacomponents/units.h b/src/declarativeimports/plasmacomponents/units.h
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..84c14e1bf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/declarativeimports/plasmacomponents/units.h
@@ -0,0 +1,66 @@
+/***************************************************************************
+ *   Copyright 2013 Marco Martin <mart@kde.org>                            *
+ *                                                                         *
+ *   This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify  *
+ *   it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by  *
+ *   the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or     *
+ *   (at your option) any later version.                                   *
+ *                                                                         *
+ *   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         *
+ *   GNU General Public License for more details.                          *
+ *                                                                         *
+ *   You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License     *
+ *   along with this program; if not, write to the                         *
+ *   Free Software Foundation, Inc.,                                       *
+ *   51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA  02110-1301  USA .        *
+ ***************************************************************************/
+
+#ifndef UNITS_H
+#define UNITS_H
+
+#include <QObject>
+
+#include <Plasma/Theme>
+
+class Units : public QObject
+{
+    Q_OBJECT
+
+    /**
+     * The fundamental unit of space that should be used for sizes, expressed in pixels.
+     * Given the screen has an accurate DPI settings, it corresponds to a millimeter
+     */
+    Q_PROPERTY(qreal gridUnit READ gridUnit NOTIFY gridUnitChanged())
+
+public:
+    Units(QObject *parent = 0);
+    ~Units();
+
+    qreal gridUnit() const;
+
+    /**
+     * @returns the number of pixels value density independent pixels correspond to.
+     */
+    Q_INVOKABLE qreal dp(qreal value) const;
+
+    /**
+     * @returns the number of pixels value grid units correspond to.
+     */
+    Q_INVOKABLE qreal gu(qreal value) const;
+
+
+Q_SIGNALS:
+    void gridUnitChanged();
+
+private Q_SLOTS:
+    void themeChanged();
+
+private:
+    int m_gridUnit;
+    Plasma::Theme m_theme;
+};
+
+#endif //UNITS_H
+