Need renovation/contractor advice

My wife and I are first time home (apartment) buyers. We recently went into contract on a 1,400 sq ft, 2bd/2ba place in greenwich village. The apartment is definitely in move-in condition but we have a few questions/concerns. The apartment was at the upper end of our budget so we can't really afford any major changes. However, we would like to make a few changes as well as some cosmetic... [more]

My wife and I are first time home (apartment) buyers. We recently went into contract on a 1,400 sq ft, 2bd/2ba place in greenwich village. The apartment is definitely in move-in condition but we have a few questions/concerns. The apartment was at the upper end of our budget so we can't really afford any major changes. However, we would like to make a few changes as well as some cosmetic finishes/changes to give it a much better feel. We took in an architect whose work we both love just so he could provide us with a plan going forward and to get his general sense of the place. His feedback has left us in a bit of a pickle. 1. Floors! The current floors are the original large square parquet from about 40 years ago. It looks like they have been sanded, stained dark and refinished several times and are due for another round. The architect had a close look and thinks that it would not be worth having them refinished. He says that they appear to be pretty thin and are getting down to their last leg. He doesn't think it will hold another round of staining very well. He estimates approx 1000 sq ft of actual space that would need to be replaced (remainder are the two large bathrooms and entry foyer which is marble). I've read through past forumns but can anyone recommend some good hard wood floor retailers and installers? Is $15/sq ft pretty accurate estimate for nice floors? If we opted to try a re-finish would it last us a few years before we re-do the floors? The architect also said that if we redo the floors we should replace all the in wall AC units because they are dated and it would be too risky if they leaked on the new floors. Any thoughts here? 2. The other major issue for us is venting! We cook a lot of indian/thai food and we really need to be able to vent out. I know this is a common problem in co-ops but I was wondering if anyone has any creative solutions. The architect suggested two options: 1. Recirculating scrubber range hood that releases near the normal kitchen vent -- he said we likely cannot 'shoot' the exhuast up this as it will just go into other people's apartments. 2. Trying to send it out the same vent area as the through wall AC unit (ground floor apartment so it is actually a ground level vent onto the street, not on the side of the building). This of course would be subject to building approval. Any other suggestion?!? His first option he priced at $40K as he said by moving the exisiting viking range we would end up basically need to redo the entire kitchen anyway. Seems pricey! Any advice or contractor recommendations or HW Floor recommendations would be very much appreciated! [less]