diff --git a/src/Plots.jl b/src/Plots.jl
index 90bd5ea3..8643ee0a 100644
--- a/src/Plots.jl
+++ b/src/Plots.jl
@@ -144,6 +144,9 @@ export
     arcdiagram,
     chorddiagram,
 
+    @default_kw,
+    @force_kw,
+
     translate,
     translate!,
     rotate,
diff --git a/src/recipes.jl b/src/recipes.jl
index 4bfcadb2..f347c3a5 100644
--- a/src/recipes.jl
+++ b/src/recipes.jl
@@ -28,6 +28,13 @@ function _apply_recipe(d::KW, args...; issubplot=false, kw...)
     args
 end
 
+macro default_kw(k, v)
+    esc(:(get!(d, $k, $v)))
+end
+
+macro force_kw(k, v)
+    esc(:(d[$k] = $v))
+end
 
 # ---------------------------------------------------------------------------