COOK ARCHITECTURAL Design Studio

I would like to commend Chuck Cook, Patrick Murphy and the entire staff at Cook Architectural for exceeding our expectations regarding our new home. They not only designed a beyond wonderful home for us but worked alongside our builder and all the other team members with professionalism & grace. I wake up each morning marveling at our home; the place where we will make wonderful memories with family & friends for our lifetime. They were at the helm of what I call our “A+” team! I would do another project with them in the future in a heart beat! Thanks so much for a beautifully well executed project from beginning to end and beyond......

We initially hired Chuck and his team to renovate our kitchen and with his vision our project morphed into so much more. Our home was initially a bungalow built in the 1920s with an addition built-on in the 1990s. As a result, while spacious, our home was compartmentalized and not used to its full potential. Chuck designed a space which we could not be happier with. We knocked down the wall that separated the "original" home from the 1990s addition and moved our kitchen from the back of the house to the center of our footprint. As a result, we now use our entire space! In addition, we moved our laundry room from the basement to the second floor and I am much happier doing laundry! Our contractor commented that he had never seen plans as detailed as Chuck's. Because of his attention to detail, there was very little room for error. In addition, he was always available to brainstorm any changes. It is amazing that so many people think we added to our space when all we really did was optimize our footprint.

We had the absolute best experience in renovating our home with Cook Architectural Design Studio from start to finish!! We expanded our kitchen and added a bathroom, mudroom, office and modified our family room. It was a major undertaking and Cook held our hand, as much or as little as we needed, through the entire process. They were professional and personable, guided us and listened to us, and blended the renovation/addition so that the scale perfectly matched with our existing home. We honestly could not be more thrilled and delighted with the end product - it more than exceeded our hopes and expectations. It is utterly beautiful as well as extremely functional with all of the customization to match with how our family lives. We highly recommend anyone to use Cook and would work with them again in a heartbeat. We feel lucky to have found them!

We worked with Chuck and his team to build our single family home in Lincoln Park Chicago. We felt everyone was extremely professional, responsive and detail-oriented throughout the entire process. They were very accommodating to our needs and felt confident that they always had our best interests in mind. It was truly a pleasure to work with Cook Architectural Design Studio!

We thoroughly enjoyed working with Chuck and his staff at Cook Architectural during the renovation/addition to our 1927 Wilmette home. Initially we were presented with several creative design solutions which exactly met our needs and desires. CA followed through with excellent attention to detail during the development of our project. They were helpful, approachable, responsive and encouraging as we sought a variance, selected a general contractor from four bidders and proceeded through the construction phase. We found Chuck, Sarah and Carol to be very professional but also fun to work with. We continue to receive many compliments on the improvements to our home, and we couldn't be happier with our finished product.

CAds designed our new construction dream home. Their design work was beautiful, and reflected our every want and need. The home feels both elegant and comfortable at the same time. Their studio was very responsive at every turn. The project manager and staff architects working with Chuck were all first rate. Our mission going in, was to realize our every dream with this home, so that we could grow old and die here :) With that said, if I ever needed to do this all over again, I would go back to CAds in a heartbeat.

We hired COOK ARCHITECTURAL for a residential renovation/addition project. In addition to expanding our living space our objective was to bridge the contemporary style of the addition with the traditional style of the existing home without creating a fractured two style result. The firm's approach, ideas and support throughout the project was impeccable. They were able to seamlessly manage our input with their experience and creativity. They solved every challenge associated with the blending of the old with new, established a strong relationship with the builder and did it with a high degree of professionalism. In the end, we could not have been more pleased with the results. While many are hesitant to endure the uncertainty that comes with with such a big project we enjoyed the process and that credit goes to Charles Cook and his team.

Chuck Cook took advantage of every element in designing and implementing an expansion of our home. Through detailed planning, thorough communication and careful execution he created beautiful, usable spaces that perfectly fit our family. He was hands-on and detail oriented. We are as happy today after eight years of living in our new space as on day one. There were no negative surprises and we still get lots of complements on his work!

We could not have been more pleased with the work of Chuck Cook and his entire team. They provided the design and project oversight for a large scale renovation and addition to our 100+ year old house and the reconstruction of our two story garage. They were very efficient saving us significant time. We liked that they took the time to listen to our needs. At our request, the team then provided a detailed design, lead the permitting process (we need an exemption), gave very specific and tasteful recommendations for all our fixtures, and was on site working very well with our contractor. This is the second large project we have done with Cook and would not use anyone else.

I have worked with Charles Cook over the last 20 years in a variety of ways. We have partnered together on real estate development projects, I was a client on a $1.5 million renovation and expansion of our family home at 249 Cumnor in Kenilworth and I have been the source of more than a dozen referrals in which Chuck was engaged to work with my real estate clients on projects ranging from minor additions and interior remodeling to brand new homes. I refer him with pride and without hesitation. He is the only architect I recommend. I have lived and worked very successfuly in real estate on the North Shore for more than 20 years and have been exposed to and on a few occasions worked with highly regarded architects. I can say based on that breath and depth of that experience Chuck is head and shoulders above the rest. How you ask: Chuck is an exceptional and practical designer. His work is not only handsome and unique his product is functional, efficient and designed to meet the objectives of each individual client. He achieves this through his tireless efforts to listen intently to his clients wants, needs and dreams and then offers a myriad of concepts for consideration making sure he has got it right before moving forward with more final plans. When adding new to old his work is seamless. When building new his work blends into the natural environment and will from a design perspective never appear out of place and will stand the test of time. He understands very few budgets allow for everything a client wants so he makes sure budgets are met and his clients get the most bang for their buck. Chuck is super talented but more importantly he his kind, patient, thoughtful and offers unparalleled service from the first meeting through the day his clients move in. There is not a finer man in his field.

Chuck Cook has helped us with several projects over the years ranging from small in scope to a complete home addition/renovation. He also designed my husband's company Chicago work space. We have loved his thoughtful, intelligent, inspired approach to solving our issues as well as his calm and steady professional demeanor. But most importantly, we love his work. He is a talented designer. Things we didn't even consider to be important in the beginning (ceiling and lighting details, for example) turned out to be our favorite part of the finished project. As my mother said when entering our light and spacious new kitchen for the first time, "Chuck Cook is a genius!" If my mom said it, y'all, you know it must be true.

Chuck. Cook ( Principal) and Sarah LaVigne (Project Manager) at Cook Architects were instrumental in designing, and running my 13 month long build of a 12,000 square foot home north of Chicago on Lake Michigan. Their firm spent countless hours meeting with me ( the designer on the project) and my husband ( the real client!). Chuck and Sarah allowed us to personalize our home and they truly allowed us to design the home of our dreams without interfering with what can sometimes be in the architectural industry a professional ego. They were excellent at front end design so that the builder ( Rocco De Felipis of Legacy Homes) was able to seamlessly build a truly custom built home down to every piece of trim being hand designed and custom cut.. Sarah, the Project Manager, established a weekly meeting ( Tuesdays) where the designer ( me), builders ( Rocco De Filipis ), Construction manager ( Roger Griffen), and Chuck Cook and Sarah LaVigne would work our way through a punch list of items that were needed to be dealt with to keep the project running smoothly. All of the sub contractors knew we would meet on Tuesday mornings and they would often line up to ask us important questions that could be answered in a timely manner thus allowing the project to run like a well oiled machine. Chuck and Sarah helped us design a home that truly looks as if it has been on this property for a century but with all of the perks a new home brings! I will attach pictures taken at a welcome to "Marlowe" ( the home's name) / 80 th Birthday party for my dad. The house was full of overnight guests (16) when the pictures were taken so things are out of place but you'll get the idea. I want to mention that my contractor ( Rocco De Felipis of Legacy Homes) and my Landscape Architect ( James O'Brien) deserve to be nominated as well. I would give the entire team 5 stars.