I have a 6 yr old female and a 7 yr male. They are left uncrated while we are not there. We close the door to my daughter's room, but otherwise, free access to the rest of the house along with a doggy door for access to our fenced yard. They're fine and mostly sleep or sun outside. Our girl was fine being crated, but our male never adjusted to the crate and would completely freak out, chew the bottom, and was at risk of hurting himself (his teeth got caught twice with us right there with him).

We much prefer letting them roam freely. They have plenty of toys and chews and we make sure to keep the important stuff put away. The worst they'll do is scope out some paper or tissues to shred while we're gone. We keep stuff like that which is ok for them to "steal and destroy" in case they get the urge, but even if we didn't, we wouldn't come home to a shredded couch or the like.