Does anyone not have a crate for their dog?

[reikizen]

Hi, we have a 13 week old lab and we don't currently crate her. She sleeps peacefully at night, but isn't fully housetrained by a long stretch (we have only had her a week). She is an absolute devil for chewing the wrong things (although we have a wide range of appropriate chewing options available!) She is currently confined to kitchen/dining room as she goes bananas and eats the carpet/coats/bags etc otherwise.
I just wondered if anyone didn't have a crate and if not why not? They are so ugly! Can we live without one?

I didn't like the idea of a crate, but with 3 cats we wanted to have a safe space for the dog to be while we were out and at night. Cmotdog loves it, and it is nice to know that he can't get up to any trouble while unobserved. A baby gate in the kitchen would so not work for him as he is a food stealer - and tall, so the sides hold no challenge for him

We bought a crate for our then young dog. He never used it, but our eldest converted it into her palace. When we moved house the crate was rehomed and we haven't got a new one. I think they can be wonderful but I don't think they're essential.

Never had a crate for any of our dogs, not had any problems housetraing or of chewing. But then,I work from home so am there to supervise!