Its a very emotive subject, my wife is a member of a Lab forum and it does get widely differing (and strong) opinions.
Thinking back, the only dogs we never crated (it never occured to us to crate them back then) a Jack Russel and a Beagle..the Beagle was an awful chewer and destroyed door frames, stair treads, table legs etc etc.
All our labs (4 of them) have been crated from pups and show no signs whatsoever of disliking it, i believe they see it as their den, their place to sleep at night, personally i wont have dogs upstairs at night, let alone sleep on a bed , just my preference, not knocking anyone that does...and a crate keeps them safe and secure....as we get to know they dont chew, we dont even close the door for the most part.
One lab was a terrific chewer, the other 3 including our latest 9 month old, have an abundance of toys and never really set about anything they shouldnt, but the lab forum is full of photos and stories of pups that do, very destructively.
Its a useful tool until you know what your pets really like...£50 ?, a damn sight cheaper than a £1000 sofa
Bedding ?, none of our dogs liked bedding, first thing they always did was paw it up into the corner, even simple flat carpet gets rejected.
I always tell my wife, stop thinking a dog thinks like you...it probably isnt bothered if it has a cushion or not, it probably gets too hot. Ours have nearly always just laid on the plastic base to the crate.