MidWest LifeStages Folding Metal Crate Review (2026): The

Why you should trust this review

I bought this crate myself to settle a question that the MidWest listings never answer cleanly: is the LifeStages actually different enough from the cheaper iCrate to matter, or is it the same crate with a different sticker? MidWest did not provide a sample, and I have no relationship with the brand. I set the LifeStages up next to a 36-inch iCrate I already owned so I could compare them side by side rather than from memory.

Over eight months I used the LifeStages for overnight crate training, daytime rest, and a few road trips. I crate two dogs in my house, one of them a determined chewer who has destroyed soft crates and bent the door on a budget wire model. That dog became the real stress test for this crate, and a lot of what I learned about the wire gauge and latch came directly from watching what he tried to do to it.

How we evaluated

I ran the crate through the routine I use for every wire crate. I timed setup from flat-folded to fully assembled, folded and unfolded it repeatedly to see whether the panels stayed square, and I loaded both dogs in it across the full range of daily situations: sleeping, waiting out a thunderstorm, and being left alone for short stretches.

For durability I watched the chewing and pulling behavior closely. My chewer works the door corner and the front lower wires, so those became the spots I inspected weekly for coating wear and bending. I also pulled the divider in and out repeatedly to judge how securely it clips, slid the tray out for cleaning after every accident, and folded the crate flat to measure how thin it packs for transport. Eight months is long enough to expose the parts that wear, and the tray was the first thing to show it.

Wire gauge and chew resistance

The difference you can see with your own eyes is the wire. The LifeStages uses noticeably heavier-gauge wire than the iCrate, and you feel it the moment you lift a panel: it flexes less, and the welds feel more solid. Against my chewer, that thicker wire held its protective coating far longer than the iCrate did. Where the iCrate started showing bare metal and slight bowing at the front after a few months of jaw pressure, the LifeStages took the same abuse and stayed visually intact much longer.

I want to be honest about the ceiling here. Heavier gauge is not the same as escape-proof. A truly destructive dog will eventually mark up even this crate, and if you are dealing with a genuine escape artist who throws himself at panels, no folding wire crate is the right answer. That is a welded-steel kennel category entirely, and it is a different kind of product. For a moderate or strong dog that chews out of boredom rather than panic, though, the LifeStages buys you years instead of months.

The divider system and crate training

The included divider panel is the practical reason I steer first-time puppy owners toward this crate. Crate training for housebreaking works because the dog will not soil a space just big enough to lie down in. The divider lets you shrink the usable area while the puppy is small, then slide it back as the dog grows until you eventually remove it. You buy one 36-inch crate instead of a series of crates, and that adds up saved over a puppy’s first year.

The divider clips into the wire and held position fine under normal use with both of my dogs. A strong adolescent can occasionally nose it loose if he leans on it hard, and I had to re-seat it a couple of times, but it never failed in a way that mattered. Through more than a year of training cycles, the system did exactly what it is supposed to do.

Latch, tray, and daily living

The slide-bolt latch is the second upgrade over the iCrate. It seats with a firmer, more deliberate action and feels harder for a dog to work loose with a paw or nose. The latches are plastic-coated, and I expect the coating to chip over a couple of years of a strong dog mouthing them, but through eight months mine stayed solid and secure.

The tray is the weak point, full stop. The plastic leak-proof tray does its job day to day: it holds liquid, slides out easily, and wipes clean. But the corners are where active dogs do damage. A dog that repeatedly kicks or paws the tray edge can crack those corners somewhere in the six-to-twelve-month window, and that is the part owners replace most often. A metal replacement tray in the matching size fixes the problem permanently, and that is the route I would take for any dog hard on equipment. Setup, meanwhile, is genuinely fast: under a couple of minutes with no tools, and the crate folds flat to roughly three inches for storage or hauling to the car.

Who should buy the MidWest LifeStages?

Buy it if you have a moderate to strong dog, plan to use the crate long-term, or have a puppy that will grow into a medium or large adult and want one crate that adapts via the divider. The heavier wire and more secure latch genuinely earn the modest step up from the iCrate for those owners.

Skip it if your dog is a severe escape artist, in which case you want a welded aluminum kennel instead, or if your dog is small and gentle and only needs a crate for quiet sleep training, where the lighter iCrate is plenty. If you only need an occasional lightweight travel crate, a soft-sided model packs smaller and weighs less.

The verdict

The LifeStages takes everything that makes the iCrate easy to live with, the toolless setup, the flat fold, and the grow-with-the-dog divider, and pairs it with sturdier wire and a better latch. After eight months and one determined chewer, the only real disappointment was the plastic tray, and that is a known, cheaply solved problem with a metal replacement. For owners committing to a crate for the long haul, this is the one I would buy, and the step up over the iCrate is worth it for any dog with strong jaws or a long road ahead.