I have a plastic collar but rarely use it. I have the large 7 quart model. The bigger bowl helps, I also find that if I get the flour towards the bottom of the bowl and start it at the lowest speed until it gets blended in a little, I don't have it blowing all over.

I agree with Sue Mcgrath. You have to put flour in at low speed, a small amount at a time. Then increase to the speed you want. This has nothing to do with the mixer being a KitchenAid, or not having the collar. If you want the dry ingredients to be incorporated properly, you would need to do this for any brand mixer when adding those ingredients.

I don't have either one, but I've read several times that that's one reason why some people opt for the Bosch over the KA.

Stop the machine with each flour addition and start it up very slowly.

My Electrolux mixer has a really slow speed for adding flour. The Bosch mixer also has this feature. Add the flours slowly with the KitchenAid.

I had the 4.5 KA for 15 years (still do, in the attic) and now the 7qt KA pro line and never use the splash shield and don't run into issues with flower 'spraying all over' even when mixing double batches of cookies or triple batch pizza dough. Like rococogurl advises, stop the machine, add some flour, start slow. With some doughs like cookies you only want to barely combine, not encourage a lot of gluten anyway. Also, are you using the right attachment for the job - the paddle or the dough hook depending on what you are mixing?

I have had a 4.5 forever and I guess I might have had that problem once years ago. But you're allowed to adjust or stop the speed if you wish. That's what those different settings are for.

I occasionally had that problem with my mother's old Hobart and wished for something like the shield. I have the 5 qt. myself. The bowl is taller and in some ways harder to get into, but while it came with the shield, I never use it. I do add flour at low speed, however, though I don't always break it up. Sometimes I just dump it all in. Another way to handle it if you prefer to dump and run is to fold the wet over the top of the flour a few times with your scraper before you start the mixer. And you can always get a new shield since yours is broken...

Also helps to make a wax paper cone and use that to slide flour into the machine. The collar with the slider is nice but not really necessary.

My KA has the collar and I am not a fan. It is made of flimsy plasic and it does not completely cover thus things still get out. Generally, it is an issue with technique. You should add lightweight/low density ingredients slowly and allow them to bind to other things before increasing the speed.

I mix on speed 1 when adding flour or powdered sugar. I use the plastic shield. Also, as a former cake decorator making LOTS of icing with LOTS of powdered sugar, I learned to just drape a dish towel over the top of the machine and around the sides of the bowl. That solved the problem.

This is one of the reasons I'm changing to a Bosch Universal.

Love the splash collar on my 30+ yr old KA! Works like a charm - must be careful when adding canned milk when making pumpkin pie - geeze but that batter can fling tiny pinpoint-size bits all over the place.

I rarely use the collar on my 45 yr old KA (made by Hobart) but I pulse it slowly a few times until the flour starts binding together, then use a slow speed. The towel trick works too.