I was wondering if the kitchenaid pouring shield attachement for the bowl is a worthwhile purchase? I am messy and it would be nice if I could make two batches of cake batter without it flying around the kitchen. thoughs?

I never use mine. I did when I first got it, but its more trouble than its worth. I dont have any messes from batter though. I only have messes from powdered sugar when making buttercream so I just use a kitchen towel over the top while its mixing. But I dont add dry ingredients while its running, I put them in and then turn it on.

No it makes a bigger mess, than not using it. I have the 5qt with the bowl that lifts, so with the shield on there is no room to add anything while it's running. So you wind up dumping ingreds all over trying to get it in around the shield.

I use mine every time I make icing, but as a pp said, you get the same (better, probably) effect by draping a towel over your mixer. Mine came with the shield, so I didn't have to pay extra for it. Knowing what I know now, I would definitely NOT pay extra for it. It would be easy to live without!

I never use mine. I just use a dish towel. You'd be better off buying a second mixing blade or bowl.

I got one for Christmas. In a nut shell, it SUCKS!

okay, glad to hear there is a consensus then! Thanks for saving me $30.

Dang! Is that what that piece of plastic cost?! My niece really loves me. She was in h.s. when she bought it, working at the burger joint part time.

I use mine for frosting, it keeps the powdered sugar in the bowl. I think it works great.

Dittto what the others said. A shield came with my mixer, tried it once and now it collects dust in the cabinet..so no needed. Towel works tonnes better.

I bought one on sale and love it. I use it all the time. It washes up in the dishwasher and saves my cabinets and counter top! Would buy it again if I needed to.

the newer ones may work better but i've had my KA for about 15 years or more and the pouring shield was more trouble then it was worth just to assemble and did not keep any of the Ps in the bowl any better then mixing at the right speed till the PS was properly incorporated. i just left my shield in the cupboard for the last .... 10+ years and finaly threw it away a few months ago..

I bought one when I had an older KA, without the "gentle start", and it definitely reduced the messes. I just poured ingredients into the little chute that seemed to be made for that purpose--no problem.

I have a newer, larger bowl-lift KA now, which came with the shield. I sometimes use it, when working with a very full bowl, but much less than previously.

I rarely use mine. It came with my KA. Usually if I have it on it gives me a false sense of security and I end up with a huge mess anyway.

I use mine and think it works fine. Obviously it's a matter of personal taste!

I use mine all the time too and no problems.

I have a slightly different question regarding the Kitchen Aide Mixers. I have one that's almost 30 years old and am replacing it (DH giving it to me as Christmas Present). I have the one with the Lift and that is what I picked out to replace it (Motor is not doing well on old one, makes tons of noise and don't know how to fix). Anyway, what I wanted to ask if anyone has used both the lift and the one with the tilt head and which they feel is better.

I have 2 lift ones and a tilt head one. I usually only use the tilt head for small jobs like royal icing or when i need to add color to icing. It makes it easy to tilt the head back and add the color and to scrap the bowl down so everything is colored. I think the lift heads are only on the higher power mixers. I would never try to mix icing in the tilt head that I have.