I like the kennel in the basement/garage idea, too - provided the garage is heated/cooled. You could get one of the smaller chain link kennel in a box things and that would be much better than a crate, IMO. My shepherd pup stays outside in a 7.5x13x6 kennel most of the time, because when he's crated all day, and then again all night, he gets really hard to handle because of his pent up energy.
I wanted to comment on the plastic vs. wire crate thing, though. Some dogs prefer one style to the other. I used to have a wire crate - that's what I got when I first got my pet dog. I had never owned a plastic airline crate before, because I thought the wire ones were more secure and couldn't be chewed, etc. I was right about that, but when I got Jak, I had to get a plastic crate for him because the wire one wouldn't fit in my car, and it was freaking HEAVY and awkward to move. I discovered that the reason my other dog never slept in her crate once she was housetrained was because she wanted the security of the plastic one! The very night I bought the plastic one, she went right in and went to sleep, and has every night since! Apparently she likes it better than the wire crate, so I sold the wire one and bought her a slightly smaller plastic crate of her own. I have known dogs that preferred the wire crates to the plastic ones, too. The doberman hound mix I fostered two summers ago liked the wire crate better than the plastic one.
For durability, the wire ones are better, IMO. But for ease-of-use and convenience, I actually prefer the plastic kind now!
