Crate training adjustment?

Ok quick bio of my doggie :) Her name is Kammi we suspect she is 8 or 9 months old. I was originally fostering her, but as most people know fostering can be deadly when it comes to such a cute face! My boyfriend and I adopted her out an(please note that me and my boyfriend are first time dog owners). We have had her for erm....about a month now she is also 37 lbs. She was a stray and has not had any training. We have been crate training her mainly just for housebreaking. We are now allowing her to walk freely in and out of her crate at night. So far so good!! Now I have heard that the crate becomes the dogs den, but me and my boyfriend don't want to keep this crate forever because it is a eye sore in our apartment. I'd like to point out that the crate she is in is sorta sorta tinyish (it was a hand-me-down) :( so I would really prefer that she doesn't always sleep in the crate. I work and my boyfriend goes to school. I'm wondering if she will react poorly if we remove the crate all together and give her a bed to sleep in. I'm also wondering if we get a large wired cage if she would react poorly to it sense it wasn't her original "den". This might be a silly question to ask but I would rather ask anyways :D...