diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index ddff6a5..991ef15 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -5,6 +5,9 @@ All notable changes to Kafka extension will be documented in this file.
 ### Added
 - Extension API to contribute clusters. See [#123](https://github.com/jlandersen/vscode-kafka/issues/123).
 
+### Changed
+- Improved the "New topic" wizard: the replication factor is now read from the broker configuration. Input will be skipped if value can't be higher than 1. See [#64](https://github.com/jlandersen/vscode-kafka/issues/64).
+
 ## [0.11.0] - 2021-03-08
 ### Added
 - Newly created topic or cluster is automatically selected in the Kafka Explorer. See [#61](https://github.com/jlandersen/vscode-kafka/issues/61).
diff --git a/src/wizards/topics.ts b/src/wizards/topics.ts
index 575905b..b799847 100644
--- a/src/wizards/topics.ts
+++ b/src/wizards/topics.ts
@@ -7,13 +7,17 @@ import { MultiStepInput, showErrorMessage, State } from "./multiStepInput";
 import { validateTopicName, validatePartitions, validateReplicationFactor } from "./validators";
 
 const DEFAULT_PARTITIONS = 1;
-const DEFAULT_REPLICATION_FACTOR = 1;
+
+const REPLICATION_FACTOR_KEY = 'offsets.topic.replication.factor';
+const DEFAULT_REPLICATION_FACTOR_KEY = 'default.replication.factor';
 
 interface CreateTopicState extends State {
     clusterId: string;
     topicName: string;
     partitions: string;
     replicationFactor: string;
+    defaultReplicas: number;
+    maxReplicas: number;
 }
 
 export async function addTopicWizard(clientAccessor: ClientAccessor, clusterSettings: ClusterSettings, explorer: KafkaExplorer, clusterId?: string): Promise<void> {
@@ -82,6 +86,12 @@ export async function addTopicWizard(clientAccessor: ClientAccessor, clusterSett
 
 async function collectInputs(state: Partial<CreateTopicState>, clusterSettings: ClusterSettings, clientAccessor: ClientAccessor) {
     if (state.clusterId) {
+        if (!state.maxReplicas) {
+            await setDefaultAndMaxReplicas(clientAccessor, state);
+            if (state.maxReplicas! <= 1) {
+                state.totalSteps = state.totalSteps! -1;
+            }
+        }
         await MultiStepInput.run(input => inputTopicName(input, state, clientAccessor));
     } else {
         await MultiStepInput.run(input => inputSelectCluster(input, state, clusterSettings, clientAccessor));
@@ -89,6 +99,8 @@ async function collectInputs(state: Partial<CreateTopicState>, clusterSettings:
 }
 
 async function inputSelectCluster(input: MultiStepInput, state: Partial<CreateTopicState>, clusterSettings: ClusterSettings, clientAccessor: ClientAccessor) {
+    //reset total steps
+    state.totalSteps = 4;
     interface ClusterPickItem extends QuickPickItem {
         clusterId: string;
     }
@@ -114,6 +126,10 @@ async function inputSelectCluster(input: MultiStepInput, state: Partial<CreateTo
         activeItem: activeClusterItem
     }));
     state.clusterId = selectedCluster.clusterId;
+    await setDefaultAndMaxReplicas(clientAccessor, state);
+    if (state.maxReplicas! <= 1) {
+        state.totalSteps = state.totalSteps! -1;
+    }
     return (input: MultiStepInput) => inputTopicName(input, state, clientAccessor);
 }
 
@@ -135,7 +151,7 @@ async function inputTopicName(input: MultiStepInput, state: Partial<CreateTopicS
 }
 
 async function getExistingTopicNames(clientAccessor: ClientAccessor, clusterId?: string): Promise<string[] | undefined> {
-    if (!clusterId) {return [];}
+    if (!clusterId) { return []; }
     try {
         const client = clientAccessor.get(clusterId);
         return (await client.getTopics()).map(topic => topic.id);
@@ -160,12 +176,48 @@ async function inputPartitions(input: MultiStepInput, state: Partial<CreateTopic
 
 
 async function inputReplicationFactor(input: MultiStepInput, state: Partial<CreateTopicState>) {
+    if (state.maxReplicas! <= 1) {
+        state.replicationFactor = state.maxReplicas!.toString();
+        return;
+    }
     state.replicationFactor = await input.showInputBox({
         title: INPUT_TITLE,
         step: input.getStepNumber(),
         totalSteps: state.totalSteps,
-        value: state.replicationFactor || DEFAULT_REPLICATION_FACTOR.toString(),
+        value: state.replicationFactor || state.defaultReplicas!.toString(),
         prompt: 'Replication Factor',
+        validationContext: state.maxReplicas,
         validate: validateReplicationFactor
     });
 }
+async function setDefaultAndMaxReplicas(clientAccessor: ClientAccessor, state: Partial<CreateTopicState>): Promise<void> {
+    const client = clientAccessor.get(state.clusterId!);
+    const brokers = await client.getBrokers();
+    let defaultReplicationFactor = -1; 
+    let maxReplicas = 1;
+    if (brokers) {
+        maxReplicas = brokers.length;
+        try {
+            for (let i = 0; i < brokers.length && defaultReplicationFactor < 0; i++) {
+                const configs = await client.getBrokerConfigs(brokers[i].id);
+                let config = configs.find(ce => ce.configName === REPLICATION_FACTOR_KEY);
+                if (config) {
+                    defaultReplicationFactor = parseInt(config.configValue, 10);
+                } else {
+                    config = configs.find(ce => ce.configName === DEFAULT_REPLICATION_FACTOR_KEY);
+                    if (config) {
+                        defaultReplicationFactor = parseInt(config.configValue, 10);
+                    }
+                }
+            }
+        } catch (e) {
+            console.log(`Failed to read replication factor configuration from broker: `+e.message);
+        }
+        if (defaultReplicationFactor < 0) {
+            defaultReplicationFactor = Math.min(3, maxReplicas);
+        }
+    }
+    state.maxReplicas = maxReplicas;
+    state.defaultReplicas = defaultReplicationFactor;
+}
+
diff --git a/src/wizards/validators.ts b/src/wizards/validators.ts
index cd52032..07f9035 100644
--- a/src/wizards/validators.ts
+++ b/src/wizards/validators.ts
@@ -55,12 +55,12 @@ export async function validatePartitions(partitions: string): Promise<string | u
     return validateFieldPositiveNumber(PARTITIONS_FIELD, partitions);
 }
 
-export async function validateReplicationFactor(replicationFactor: string): Promise<string | undefined> {
+export async function validateReplicationFactor(replicationFactor: string, max: number): Promise<string | undefined> {
     const result = validateFieldRequired(REPLICATION_FACTOR_FIELD, replicationFactor);
     if (result) {
         return result;
-    }
-    return validateFieldPositiveNumber(REPLICATION_FACTOR_FIELD, replicationFactor);
+    } 
+    return validateFieldPositiveNumber(REPLICATION_FACTOR_FIELD, replicationFactor, max);
 }
 
 // ------------------ Commons Validators
@@ -80,9 +80,12 @@ function validateFieldUniqueValue(name: string, value: string, values: string[])
     }
 }
 
-function validateFieldPositiveNumber(name: string, value: string): string | undefined {
-    const valueAsNumber = parseInt(value, 10);
+function validateFieldPositiveNumber(name: string, value: string, max?: number): string | undefined {
+    const valueAsNumber = Number(value);
     if (isNaN(valueAsNumber) || valueAsNumber < 1) {
         return `${name} must be a positive number.`;
     }
+    if (max && valueAsNumber > max) {
+        return `${name} can not be greater than ${max}.`;
+    }
 }