Shopping for Doorknobs With Gil Schafer TURN, TURN, TURN Gil Schafer searches for distinctive doorknobs at E.R. Butler & Company in SoHo. Mr. Schafer invests a lot of time in finding just the right hardware for each job. GIL SCHAFER is a New York architect who specializes in historical renovations and "new houses that look like old houses," he said. He is also a self-described "hardware nut" who invests a lot of time trying to find just the right hardware to complete each project. But for him, there is one piece that stands out among all the hinges, pulls, latches and locks: the doorknob. "Just like moldings tell a story about the architecture of a house in their proportion and shape, a doorknob can tell you about the character of a room," said Mr. Schafer, 51, whose book, "The Great American House," was published last month. Different kinds of knobs say different things. At E. R. Butler & Company, a favorite hardware haunt across the street from his office in SoHo, he admired the gemlike GH Series crystal doorknob. "This is very similar to the ones I used in my apartment," he said. It fits your hand in a really nice way, and the facets make it easy to grab. He also liked the round crystal GB Series. "It's a very simple, classic American knob," he said. At the Nanz showroom nearby, he found several modern options, including the 1552 Studio Line knob. "It almost feels like it was chiseled out of bronze," he said, adding that it would be good for an Art Deco interior. As a contrast to the very historic, it's quite imaginative. He also liked the 1215 knob, which had a T-shaped handle. "This has a Captain Nemo, Jules Verne quality," he said. I could see using it in a modern loft. In Chelsea, at the H. Theophile showroom, Mr. Schafer picked out the mushroom-shaped HT4190 knob, which he thought would please modernists and traditionalists alike. "It's quite a contemporary shape," he said. Even though it's based on an antique. And at Katonah Architectural Hardware in Midtown, he admired the brass knobs and box locks ("a very classic early-American mechanism," he explained) by D. C. Mitchell. "They're a small outfit that hand-makes re-creations of 18th-century American hardware," he said. The classic look was hard to resist, particularly for anyone with a traditionalist bent like Mr. Schafer. But visual appeal isn't the only thing to consider, he said, stressing the importance of making sure you like the way a piece of hardware feels. "It may be beautiful," he said, "but that doesn't matter if it doesn't feel good in the hand."