diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -53,7 +53,6 @@
 find_package(KF5KIO ${KF5_DEP_VERSION} REQUIRED)
 find_package(KF5Parts ${KF5_DEP_VERSION} REQUIRED)
 find_package(KF5Sonnet ${KF5_DEP_VERSION} REQUIRED)
-find_package(KF5IconThemes ${KF5_DEP_VERSION} REQUIRED)
 find_package(KF5SyntaxHighlighting ${KF5_DEP_VERSION} REQUIRED)
 find_package(KF5Auth ${KF5_DEP_VERSION} REQUIRED)
 
diff --git a/autotests/CMakeLists.txt b/autotests/CMakeLists.txt
--- a/autotests/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/autotests/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -36,7 +36,6 @@
 
 set (KTEXTEDITOR_TEST_LINK_LIBS KF5TextEditor
   KF5::I18n
-  KF5::IconThemes
   KF5::GuiAddons
   KF5::SyntaxHighlighting
   Qt5::Qml
diff --git a/src/CMakeLists.txt b/src/CMakeLists.txt
--- a/src/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/src/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -315,7 +315,6 @@
   KF5::I18n
   KF5::Archive
   KF5::GuiAddons
-  KF5::IconThemes
   KF5::ItemViews
   KF5::SonnetCore
   KF5::SyntaxHighlighting
diff --git a/src/dialogs/katedialogs.cpp b/src/dialogs/katedialogs.cpp
--- a/src/dialogs/katedialogs.cpp
+++ b/src/dialogs/katedialogs.cpp
@@ -61,7 +61,6 @@
 #include <KCharsets>
 #include <KColorCombo>
 #include <KComboBox>
-#include <KIconLoader>
 #include <KLineEdit>
 #include <KMessageBox>
 #include <KProcess>
diff --git a/src/variableeditor/katehelpbutton.h b/src/variableeditor/katehelpbutton.h
--- a/src/variableeditor/katehelpbutton.h
+++ b/src/variableeditor/katehelpbutton.h
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@
     Q_OBJECT
 
 public:
-    enum IconState { IconColored = 0, IconGrayscaled, IconHidden };
+    enum IconState { IconColored = 0, IconHidden };
 
     void setSection(const QString &section);
 
diff --git a/src/variableeditor/katehelpbutton.cpp b/src/variableeditor/katehelpbutton.cpp
--- a/src/variableeditor/katehelpbutton.cpp
+++ b/src/variableeditor/katehelpbutton.cpp
@@ -22,7 +22,6 @@
 
 #include <QIcon>
 
-#include <KIconLoader>
 #include <KLocalizedString>
 #include <khelpclient.h>
 
@@ -42,12 +41,10 @@
 
 void KateHelpButton::setIconState(IconState state)
 {
-    if (state == IconGrayscaled) {
-        setIcon(QIcon::fromTheme(QStringLiteral("help-contents")).pixmap(IconSize(KIconLoader::Small), QIcon::Disabled));
-    } else if (state == IconHidden) {
+    if (state == IconHidden) {
         setIcon(QIcon());
     } else {
-        setIcon(QIcon::fromTheme(QStringLiteral("help-contents")).pixmap(IconSize(KIconLoader::Small), QIcon::Normal));
+        setIcon(QIcon::fromTheme(QStringLiteral("help-contents")));
     }
 
     update();