diff --git a/DependencyInjection/Configuration.php b/DependencyInjection/Configuration.php
index e4c0078b8..32e8ffa0d 100644
--- a/DependencyInjection/Configuration.php
+++ b/DependencyInjection/Configuration.php
@@ -132,6 +132,7 @@ private function getDbalConnectionsNode()
             ->fixXmlConfig('mapping_type')
             ->fixXmlConfig('slave')
             ->fixXmlConfig('shard')
+            ->fixXmlConfig('default_table_option')
             ->children()
                 ->scalarNode('driver')->defaultValue('pdo_mysql')->end()
                 ->scalarNode('platform_service')->end()
@@ -153,6 +154,11 @@ private function getDbalConnectionsNode()
                     ->useAttributeAsKey('name')
                     ->prototype('scalar')->end()
                 ->end()
+                ->arrayNode('default_table_options')
+                    ->info("This option is used by the schema-tool and affects generated SQL. Possible keys include 'charset','collate', and 'engine'.")
+                    ->useAttributeAsKey('name')
+                    ->prototype('scalar')->end()
+                ->end()
             ->end()
         ;
 
diff --git a/DependencyInjection/DoctrineExtension.php b/DependencyInjection/DoctrineExtension.php
index 51dfce608..45f6cb051 100644
--- a/DependencyInjection/DoctrineExtension.php
+++ b/DependencyInjection/DoctrineExtension.php
@@ -254,6 +254,7 @@ protected function getConnectionOptions($connection)
             'keep_slave' => 'keepSlave',
             'shard_choser' => 'shardChoser',
             'server_version' => 'serverVersion',
+            'default_table_options' => 'defaultTableOptions',
         ) as $old => $new) {
             if (isset($options[$old])) {
                 $options[$new] = $options[$old];
diff --git a/Resources/config/schema/doctrine-1.0.xsd b/Resources/config/schema/doctrine-1.0.xsd
index f783f287c..40894c48f 100644
--- a/Resources/config/schema/doctrine-1.0.xsd
+++ b/Resources/config/schema/doctrine-1.0.xsd
@@ -68,6 +68,7 @@
             <xsd:element name="mapping-type" type="named_scalar" />
             <xsd:element name="slave" type="slave" />
             <xsd:element name="shard" type="shard" />
+            <xsd:element name="default-table-option" type="named_scalar" />
         </xsd:choice>
     </xsd:group>
 
diff --git a/Resources/doc/configuration.rst b/Resources/doc/configuration.rst
index ec32b8041..9b87bcf34 100644
--- a/Resources/doc/configuration.rst
+++ b/Resources/doc/configuration.rst
@@ -96,6 +96,13 @@ Configuration Reference
                             # example
                             # enum:                 string
 
+                        default_table_options:
+                            # Affects schema-tool. If absent, DBAL chooses defaults
+                            # based on the platform. Examples here are for MySQL.
+                            # charset:      utf8
+                            # collate:      utf8_unicode_ci
+                            # engine:       InnoDB
+
                         slaves:
                             # A collection of named slave connections (e.g. slave1, slave2)
                             slave1:
@@ -414,6 +421,11 @@ Configuration Reference
                         <!-- example -->
                         <doctrine:mapping-type name="enum">string</doctrine:mapping-type>
 
+                        <!-- example -->
+                        <doctrine:default-table-option name="charset">utf8</doctrine:default-table-option>
+                        <doctrine:default-table-option name="collate">utf8_unicode_ci</doctrine:default-table-option>
+                        <doctrine:default-table-option name="engine">InnoDB</doctrine:default-table-option>
+
                         <!-- example -->
                         <!-- unix-socket: The unix socket to use for MySQL -->
                         <!-- persistent: True to use as persistent connection for the ibm_db2 driver -->
@@ -840,6 +852,12 @@ can configure. The following block shows all possible configuration keys:
                     enum: string
                 types:
                     custom: Acme\HelloBundle\MyCustomType
+                default_table_options:
+                    # Affects schema-tool. If absent, DBAL chooses defaults
+                    # based on the platform.
+                    charset:              utf8
+                    collate:              utf8_unicode_ci
+                    engine:               InnoDB
 
     .. code-block:: xml
 
@@ -878,6 +896,9 @@ can configure. The following block shows all possible configuration keys:
             >
                 <doctrine:option key="foo">bar</doctrine:option>
                 <doctrine:mapping-type name="enum">string</doctrine:mapping-type>
+                <doctrine:default-table-option name="charset">utf8</doctrine:default-table-option>
+                <doctrine:default-table-option name="collate">utf8_unicode_ci</doctrine:default-table-option>
+                <doctrine:default-table-option name="engine">InnoDB</doctrine:default-table-option>
                 <doctrine:type name="custom">Acme\HelloBundle\MyCustomType</doctrine:type>
             </doctrine:dbal>
         </doctrine:config>
diff --git a/Tests/DependencyInjection/AbstractDoctrineExtensionTest.php b/Tests/DependencyInjection/AbstractDoctrineExtensionTest.php
index 8647da15f..832e1da05 100644
--- a/Tests/DependencyInjection/AbstractDoctrineExtensionTest.php
+++ b/Tests/DependencyInjection/AbstractDoctrineExtensionTest.php
@@ -114,7 +114,11 @@ public function testDbalLoadSingleMasterSlaveConnection()
         $this->assertEquals('Doctrine\\DBAL\\Connections\\MasterSlaveConnection', $param['wrapperClass']);
         $this->assertTrue($param['keepSlave']);
         $this->assertEquals(
-            array('user' => 'mysql_user', 'password' => 'mysql_s3cr3t', 'port' => null, 'dbname' => 'mysql_db', 'host' => 'localhost', 'unix_socket' => '/path/to/mysqld.sock'),
+            array('user' => 'mysql_user', 'password' => 'mysql_s3cr3t',
+                  'port' => null, 'dbname' => 'mysql_db', 'host' => 'localhost',
+                  'unix_socket' => '/path/to/mysqld.sock',
+                  'defaultTableOptions' => array(),
+            ),
             $param['master']
         );
         $this->assertEquals(
@@ -136,7 +140,11 @@ public function testDbalLoadPoolShardingConnection()
         $this->assertEquals('Doctrine\\DBAL\\Sharding\\PoolingShardConnection', $param['wrapperClass']);
         $this->assertEquals(new Reference('foo.shard_choser'), $param['shardChoser']);
         $this->assertEquals(
-            array('user' => 'mysql_user', 'password' => 'mysql_s3cr3t', 'port' => null, 'dbname' => 'mysql_db', 'host' => 'localhost', 'unix_socket' => '/path/to/mysqld.sock'),
+            array('user' => 'mysql_user', 'password' => 'mysql_s3cr3t',
+                  'port' => null, 'dbname' => 'mysql_db', 'host' => 'localhost',
+                  'unix_socket' => '/path/to/mysqld.sock',
+                  'defaultTableOptions' => array(),
+            ),
             $param['global']
         );
         $this->assertEquals(
@@ -163,6 +171,7 @@ public function testLoadSimpleSingleConnection()
                 'password' => null,
                 'driver' => 'pdo_mysql',
                 'driverOptions' => array(),
+                'defaultTableOptions' => array(),
             ),
             new Reference('doctrine.dbal.default_connection.configuration'),
             new Reference('doctrine.dbal.default_connection.event_manager'),
@@ -202,6 +211,7 @@ public function testLoadSimpleSingleConnectionWithoutDbName()
                     'password' => null,
                     'driver' => 'pdo_mysql',
                     'driverOptions' => array(),
+                    'defaultTableOptions' => array(),
                 ),
                 new Reference('doctrine.dbal.default_connection.configuration'),
                 new Reference('doctrine.dbal.default_connection.event_manager'),
@@ -241,6 +251,7 @@ public function testLoadSingleConnection()
                 'password' => 'sqlite_s3cr3t',
                 'dbname' => 'sqlite_db',
                 'memory' => true,
+                'defaultTableOptions' => array(),
             ),
             new Reference('doctrine.dbal.default_connection.configuration'),
             new Reference('doctrine.dbal.default_connection.event_manager'),
@@ -461,6 +472,26 @@ public function testMultipleEntityManagersMappingBundleDefinitions()
         ));
     }
 
+    public function testSingleEntityManagerDefaultTableOptions()
+    {
+        $container = $this->loadContainer('orm_single_em_default_table_options', array('YamlBundle', 'AnnotationsBundle', 'XmlBundle'));
+
+        $param = $container->getDefinition('doctrine.dbal.default_connection')->getArgument(0);
+
+        $this->assertArrayHasKey('defaultTableOptions',$param);
+
+        $defaults = $param['defaultTableOptions'];
+
+        $this->assertArrayHasKey('charset', $defaults);
+        $this->assertArrayHasKey('collate', $defaults);
+        $this->assertArrayHasKey('engine', $defaults);
+
+        $this->assertEquals('utf8mb4',$defaults['charset']);
+        $this->assertEquals('utf8mb4_unicode_ci',$defaults['collate']);
+        $this->assertEquals('InnoDB',$defaults['engine']);
+
+    }
+
     public function testSetTypes()
     {
         $container = $this->loadContainer('dbal_types');
diff --git a/Tests/DependencyInjection/Fixtures/config/xml/orm_single_em_default_table_options.xml b/Tests/DependencyInjection/Fixtures/config/xml/orm_single_em_default_table_options.xml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..cdbe1bddd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Tests/DependencyInjection/Fixtures/config/xml/orm_single_em_default_table_options.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+<?xml version="1.0" ?>
+
+<srv:container xmlns="http://symfony.com/schema/dic/doctrine"
+    xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
+    xmlns:srv="http://symfony.com/schema/dic/services"
+    xsi:schemaLocation="http://symfony.com/schema/dic/services http://symfony.com/schema/dic/services/services-1.0.xsd
+                        http://symfony.com/schema/dic/doctrine http://symfony.com/schema/dic/doctrine/doctrine-1.0.xsd">
+
+    <config>
+        <dbal default-connection="default">
+            <connection name="default" dbname="db">
+                <default-table-option name="charset">utf8mb4</default-table-option>
+                <default-table-option name="collate">utf8mb4_unicode_ci</default-table-option>
+                <default-table-option name="engine">InnoDB</default-table-option>
+            </connection>
+        </dbal>
+
+        <orm>
+            <mapping name="AnnotationsBundle" />
+            <mapping name="YamlBundle" dir="Resources/config/doctrine" alias="yml" />
+            <mapping name="manual" type="xml" prefix="Fixtures\Bundles\XmlBundle"
+                dir="%kernel.root_dir%/Tests/DependencyInjection/Fixtures/Bundles/XmlBundle/Resources/config/doctrine"
+                alias="TestAlias"
+            />
+        </orm>
+    </config>
+</srv:container>
diff --git a/Tests/DependencyInjection/Fixtures/config/yml/orm_single_em_default_table_options.yml b/Tests/DependencyInjection/Fixtures/config/yml/orm_single_em_default_table_options.yml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..93625f1c5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Tests/DependencyInjection/Fixtures/config/yml/orm_single_em_default_table_options.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+doctrine:
+    dbal:
+        default_connection: default
+        connections:
+            default:
+                dbname: db
+                default_table_options:
+                  charset:      utf8mb4
+                  collate:      utf8mb4_unicode_ci
+                  engine:       InnoDB
+
+    orm:
+        mappings:
+            AnnotationsBundle: ~
+            YamlBundle:
+                dir: Resources/config/doctrine
+                alias: yml
+            manual:
+                type: xml
+                prefix: Fixtures\Bundles\XmlBundle
+                dir: %kernel.root_dir%/Tests/DependencyInjection/Fixtures/Bundles/XmlBundle/Resources/config/doctrine
+                alias: TestAlias