diff --git a/doc/source/options.rst b/doc/source/options.rst
index 0b2ba03a441a2..d00ba047a56a6 100644
--- a/doc/source/options.rst
+++ b/doc/source/options.rst
@@ -307,6 +307,9 @@ display.large_repr         truncate     For DataFrames exceeding max_rows/max_co
                                         or switch to the view from df.info()
                                         (the behaviour in earlier versions of pandas).
                                         allowable settings, ['truncate', 'info']
+display.latex.repr         False        Whether to produce a latex DataFrame
+                                        representation for jupyter frontends
+                                        that support it.
 display.latex.escape       True         Escapes special caracters in Dataframes, when
                                         using the to_latex method.
 display.latex.longtable    False        Specifies if the to_latex method of a Dataframe
diff --git a/doc/source/whatsnew/v0.18.0.txt b/doc/source/whatsnew/v0.18.0.txt
index d30c0321568bc..793565bd54581 100644
--- a/doc/source/whatsnew/v0.18.0.txt
+++ b/doc/source/whatsnew/v0.18.0.txt
@@ -312,6 +312,23 @@ New Behavior:
    s.index
    print(s.to_csv(path=None))
 
+Latex Represenation
+^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+
+``DataFrame`` has gained a ``_repr_latex_`` method in order to allow
+for conversion to latex in a ipython/jupyter notebook using
+nbconvert. (:issue:`11778`)
+
+Note that this must be activated by setting the option ``display.latex.repr``
+to ``True`` (issue:`12182`)
+
+For example, if you have a jupyter notebook you plan to convert to latex using
+nbconvert, place the statement ``pd.set_option('display.latex.repr', True)``
+in the first cell to have the contained DataFrame output also stored as latex.
+
+Options ``display.latex.escape`` and ``display.latex.longtable`` have also been
+added to the configuration and are used automatically by the ``to_latex``
+method.  See the :ref:`options documentation<options>` for more info.
 
 .. _whatsnew_0180.enhancements.other:
 
@@ -324,7 +341,6 @@ Other enhancements
 - add support for ``AWS_S3_HOST`` env variable when reading from s3 (:issue:`12198`)
 - A simple version of ``Panel.round()`` is now implemented (:issue:`11763`)
 - For Python 3.x, ``round(DataFrame)``, ``round(Series)``, ``round(Panel)`` will work (:issue:`11763`)
-- ``DataFrame`` has gained a ``_repr_latex_`` method in order to allow for automatic conversion to latex in a ipython/jupyter notebook using nbconvert. Options ``display.latex.escape`` and ``display.latex.longtable`` have been added to the configuration and are used automatically by the ``to_latex`` method. (:issue:`11778`)
 - ``sys.getsizeof(obj)`` returns the memory usage of a pandas object, including the
   values it contains (:issue:`11597`)
 - ``Series`` gained an ``is_unique`` attribute (:issue:`11946`)
diff --git a/pandas/core/config_init.py b/pandas/core/config_init.py
index 01a39583001c1..93a6968be8602 100644
--- a/pandas/core/config_init.py
+++ b/pandas/core/config_init.py
@@ -155,6 +155,13 @@
     (default: False)
 """
 
+pc_latex_repr_doc = """
+: boolean
+    Whether to produce a latex DataFrame representation for jupyter
+    environments that support it.
+    (default: False)
+"""
+
 pc_line_width_deprecation_warning = """\
 line_width has been deprecated, use display.width instead (currently both are
 identical)
@@ -314,6 +321,8 @@ def mpl_style_cb(key):
                        pc_east_asian_width_doc, validator=is_bool)
     cf.register_option('unicode.ambiguous_as_wide', False,
                        pc_east_asian_width_doc, validator=is_bool)
+    cf.register_option('latex.repr', False,
+                       pc_latex_repr_doc, validator=is_bool)
     cf.register_option('latex.escape', True, pc_latex_escape,
                        validator=is_bool)
     cf.register_option('latex.longtable', False, pc_latex_longtable,
diff --git a/pandas/core/frame.py b/pandas/core/frame.py
index 27e932cb54b95..324f30ed00bed 100644
--- a/pandas/core/frame.py
+++ b/pandas/core/frame.py
@@ -574,7 +574,10 @@ def _repr_latex_(self):
         Returns a LaTeX representation for a particular Dataframe.
         Mainly for use with nbconvert (jupyter notebook conversion to pdf).
         """
-        return self.to_latex()
+        if get_option('display.latex.repr'):
+            return self.to_latex()
+        else:
+            return None
 
     @property
     def style(self):
diff --git a/pandas/tests/frame/test_repr_info.py b/pandas/tests/frame/test_repr_info.py
index 2dda4a37e6449..07446d32c55fb 100644
--- a/pandas/tests/frame/test_repr_info.py
+++ b/pandas/tests/frame/test_repr_info.py
@@ -186,10 +186,14 @@ def test_latex_repr(self):
 \bottomrule
 \end{tabular}
 """
-        with option_context("display.latex.escape", False):
+        with option_context("display.latex.escape", False,
+                            'display.latex.repr', True):
             df = DataFrame([[r'$\alpha$', 'b', 'c'], [1, 2, 3]])
             self.assertEqual(result, df._repr_latex_())
 
+        # GH 12182
+        self.assertIsNone(df._repr_latex_())
+
     def test_info(self):
         io = StringIO()
         self.frame.info(buf=io)