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.

Patrick Coston outside the Inwood apartment building where he bought a large studio and is now renovating his kitchen.

The self-taught chef grew up in Norman, Okla., and started working after high school. His talents led him to Vail, Colo., and San Francisco.

He came to New York in 1999 and worked for celebrity chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten at Mercer Kitchen in SoHo and later as the pastry chef at Ilo in the Bryant Park Hotel.

Coston got involved with the Food Network while on hiatus from the city a few years ago and working as the pastry chef at the Ritz-Carlton in Las Vegas. "Food Network Challenge" was taping a segment at the hotel and invited him to be a judge.

Coston, who returned to the city in 2006, likes living in the West Village, near the restaurants where he consults. But after checking online listings, he was wary about whether he could afford the neighborhood. He found 300-square-foot studios for $370,000, but wanted a place that cost less than $300,000, with maintenance charges of no more than $500 a month.

Instead, he did his apartment-hunting in Inwood, the hilly nabe at Manhattan's northern tip.

"I wanted to stay in Manhattan, but I wanted some of the quietness and the parks," he said. "It's almost like a suburb."

The neighborhood's greenbelt includes Fort Tryon Park, home to the Cloisters, and Inwood Hill Park, the site of Peter Minuit's legendary $24 purchase of Manhattan.

The co-op in the building where Coston wound up buying, off W. 218th St. near Isham Park, was shown by Eric Popowski of A.N. Shell Realty. His space is 500 square feet, pretty big for a studio and big enough for Coston.

It's painted in dark colors and has a walled-in kitchen, which keeps light from reaching the rest of the apartment. But Coston said he thought, "This one has a lot of potential."

He also liked the $205,000 price he negotiated and the down payment requirement of just 10%. Coston was anxious before meeting with the co-op's admissions committee, but the interview was a breeze.

He got a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage at 5.75% from Countrywide Financial. His mortgage payment is $1,100 per month. His maintenance charge is $380 per month, so his monthly tab for owning is $320 less than his rental. Plus, he'll get a tax deduction on his mortgage interest.

His dad, Vernon, a retired postal official, gave him and his brother down payments for homes. Because of his father's generous gift, Coston, who makes $175,000 a year from his TV and consulting gigs, knew he'd have enough savings to tear down some walls and enlarge the kitchen.

"A new kitchen is the top priority," he said. Coston's apartment lease runs through September, and he plans on staying until his kitchen remodeling is done.

"The roller-coaster ride [of homebuying] has a lot of ups and downs," Coston said. "I finally felt exhilarated when I had the keys in my hand."

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