Pastry chef Patrick Coston has fortified his career, adding guest spots as a judge on cable's "Food Network Challenge" to his résumé.

Last winter, he decided to solidify his housing situation.

"It was time to stop wasting money on rent," said Coston, 37, who pays $1,800 a month for his part of a small two-bedroom West Village apartment he shares with a roommate.

Coston didn't have much time for apartment-hunting. He travels a lot for the Food Network series, in which chefs compete by doing things like making replicas of city skylines out of cake.

When he's not traveling, Coston works six days a week as a consulting chef, creating dessert menus and recipes for four restaurants in SoHo and Greenwich Village.