I would like to get this game but I don't like crafting in games. Can I ignore crafting and still progress in the game or is it a MUST DO feature to progress?

If by ignoring you mean absolutely no crafting, you don't really need to craft anything to progress the game but you will be severely handicapped, first thing that comes to mind is your inventory as you start with only half the maximum inventory and hotbar.

And you need to barricade yourself at night to have a reasonable chance of surviving. Also the first weapon is only craftable, i think.

However crafting is not very complicated, most of it it's just the typical "board + nails = nail board" and a few choices of upgrades. The game really gets you on resources management, most of the time you will be hunting down resources rather than crafting.

The game is hard enough the way it is there is really no need to make it harder XD

TLDR: technically possible but not very enjoyable.