Dog crates
Stylish Dog Crates & Furniture
A crate that lives in the living room has to do two jobs at once. Most do one. Here is how to tell before you buy.
The complaint
“It looks like a cage. Guests ask if the dog is being punished. So it went in the spare room, and now the dog howls because she can’t see us.”
That’s the wire-crate problem. The wooden-crate problem is the opposite: “It looked beautiful for three weeks and then he chewed through the corner slat and let himself out.”
Almost every dog crate is one or the other. Wire crates work and look like hardware. Furniture crates look like furniture and, for a lot of dogs, don’t work. The buyer ends up owning both.
Why it fails
A crate has to contain a dog, and a piece of furniture has to look like it belongs next to a sofa. The two pull in different directions.
- Slats are the compromise. Wide wooden slats read as furniture. They also give a dog something to bite. Once a slat is chewed, the crate is no longer a crate.
- MDF is not wood. Most furniture crates under a few hundred dollars are medium-density fibreboard with a veneer. It swells with the first accident and splinters under teeth.
- Latches are an afterthought. Decorative doors often use a magnetic catch or a small turn-latch, and dogs learn both.
- Sizing is by room, not by dog. “Large” describes how the crate looks in a living room. A 70-pound dog often can’t turn around inside it.
- Wire crates aren’t ugly by accident. They’re cheap to make and easy to ship flat. Nobody designed them to be looked at, so nobody minds hiding them.
A good crate solves this with materials, not with decoration: a steel or hardwood frame, tight spacing, an external latch, and a tray that comes out. Then it can afford to look like furniture.
What to look for
Check every one before you buy. This is the part the pin couldn't fit.
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Bar or slat spacing under 5 cm, and no gaps a jaw fits through
Wide decorative slats look open and airy. They also let a determined dog get teeth around them, and that is how wooden crates get chewed through.
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A latch the dog can't reach from inside
Slide bolts on the outside of the door are the standard. Any latch a paw or nose can work is a matter of time.
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A removable, washable floor tray
Accidents happen. If the base is fixed wood or MDF, one bad night soaks in permanently.
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Internal length at least the dog's nose-to-tail plus 10 cm
Furniture crates are sized to look right in a room, not to fit a dog. Measure the dog, then check the internal dimensions, not the external ones.
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A solid top rated for what you'll put on it
If it's going to be a side table, it needs to hold a lamp and a drink without flexing. Many "end table" crates have a top rated for nothing.
The fixes
Products that pass, and where each one falls short
Every card below lists the product's known flaw. If we can't name one, we don't list it.
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The Crate
Fable · $600 and up
- Bent-wood shell and clear acrylic door — the one crate that reads as a side table
- Solid top rated for real use, so it replaces a piece of furniture rather than adding one
- Door swings both ways and the latch is out of reach from inside
Known flaw
Not for chewers or escape artists — the acrylic scratches and the wood takes teeth. It only comes in one size, so it fits small to medium dogs, and the price is close to a real side table.
Link to Fable coming soon
Revol Crate
Diggs · $250–600
- Diamond-mesh steel with tight spacing — no gap a paw or jaw fits through
- Collapses in seconds and rolls on wheels, which matters if you move
- Removable, washable tray and a side door for tight corners
Known flaw
Heavy, and the largest size still tops out around a 35-kilo dog. The mesh is functional, not beautiful — it looks like a very good crate, not like furniture.
Link to Diggs coming soon
ecoFLEX Crate End Table
New Age Pet · $100–250
- Composite slats that don't swell with accidents the way MDF does
- Comes in sizes up to extra-large, which most furniture crates skip
- Costs a fraction of the designer options
Known flaw
The slats are wide enough for a determined chewer to get purchase on, and the composite has a faint plastic sheen up close. Assembly takes an hour and the panels are not perfectly square out of the box.
Link to New Age Pet coming soon
Hear about it when a crate passes as furniture and as a crate
We check new crates against the five specs above, including whether a chewer can get through them. A few emails a year when one clears.