diff --git a/src/recode.jl b/src/recode.jl
index 0242a4c4..8493741e 100644
--- a/src/recode.jl
+++ b/src/recode.jl
@@ -33,6 +33,8 @@ recode!(dest::AbstractArray, src::AbstractArray, pairs::Pair...) =
 # To fix ambiguity
 recode!(dest::CategoricalArray, src::AbstractArray, pairs::Pair...) =
     recode!(dest, src, nothing, pairs...)
+recode!(dest::AbstractArray, src::CategoricalArray, pairs::Pair...) =
+    recode!(dest, src, nothing, pairs...)
 recode!(dest::CategoricalArray, src::CategoricalArray, pairs::Pair...) =
     recode!(dest, src, nothing, pairs...)
 
@@ -52,6 +54,29 @@ A user defined type could override this method to define an appropriate test fun
 optimize_pair(pair::Pair) = pair
 optimize_pair(pair::Pair{<:AbstractArray}) = Set(pair.first) => pair.second
 
+function missing_check(value)
+    ismissing(value) && throw(MissingException("missing value found, but dest does not support them: " *
+                                       "recode them to a supported value"))
+    value
+end
+
+function recode!(dest::AbstractArray{T}, src::CategoricalArray, default::Any, pairs::Pair...) where {T}
+    if length(dest) != length(src)
+        throw(DimensionMismatch("dest and src must be of the same length (got $(length(dest)) and $(length(src)))"))
+    end
+    
+    pairs = map(pairs) do p
+        p.first => convert(T, p.second)
+    end
+    recoded = recode(src, default, pairs...)
+    if T >: Missing
+        dest .= unwrap.(recoded)
+    else
+        dest .= missing_check.(unwrap.(recoded))
+    end
+    dest
+end
+
 function recode!(dest::AbstractArray{T}, src::AbstractArray, default::Any, pairs::Pair...) where {T}
     if length(dest) != length(src)
         throw(DimensionMismatch("dest and src must be of the same length (got $(length(dest)) and $(length(src)))"))
@@ -59,15 +84,17 @@ function recode!(dest::AbstractArray{T}, src::AbstractArray, default::Any, pairs
 
     opt_pairs = map(optimize_pair, pairs)
 
-    @inbounds for i in eachindex(dest, src)
-        x = src[i]
+    map!(dest, src) do x
 
-        for j in 1:length(opt_pairs)
-            p = opt_pairs[j]
-            # we use isequal and recode_in because we cannot really distinguish scalars from collections
-            if x ≅ p.first || recode_in(x, p.first)
-                dest[i] = p.second
-                @goto nextitem
+        # we use isequal and recode_in because we cannot really distinguish scalars from collections
+        for p in opt_pairs
+            if x ≅ p.first
+                return p.second
+            end
+        end
+        for p in opt_pairs
+            if recode_in(x, p.first)
+                return p.second
             end
         end
 
@@ -76,10 +103,10 @@ function recode!(dest::AbstractArray{T}, src::AbstractArray, default::Any, pairs
             eltype(dest) >: Missing ||
                 throw(MissingException("missing value found, but dest does not support them: " *
                                        "recode them to a supported value"))
-            dest[i] = missing
+            return missing
         elseif default isa Nothing
             try
-                dest[i] = x
+                return convert(T, x)
             catch err
                 isa(err, MethodError) || rethrow(err)
                 throw(ArgumentError("cannot `convert` value $(repr(x)) (of type $(typeof(x))) to type of recoded levels ($T). " *
@@ -87,10 +114,8 @@ function recode!(dest::AbstractArray{T}, src::AbstractArray, default::Any, pairs
                                     "(i.e. some are preserved) and their type is incompatible with that of recoded levels."))
             end
         else
-            dest[i] = default
+            return default
         end
-
-        @label nextitem
     end
 
     dest