Help with choosing a chest

I'm going to store clothes, papers and other things in this chest.

I'm looking for
1. General illustrated instruction in order to understand how to recognize a quality product. For instance some pages say to look for dovetail joints, but an illustration would be the most helpful way to convey what I should look for.
2. Specific stores to visit in NYC. I'd like to browse the websites first, and then visit the store to look at the items. However, the websites don't usually list the details of the item besides the wood type and dimensions, so I don't how to to recognize a quality product based on that. I don't want to visit too many stores, especially if they're far apart, so the stores should probably be big to contain many different items.
3. Basic criteria follow. Note that I don't know much about furniture's manufacture so I'll just mention the things I'm looking for, I don't know how applicable they are in reality. The chest shouldn't be painted and should be minimally or appropriately treated (shouldn't smell or leach the coating). I was wiping my desk with a wet tissue and it stained the tissue with lacque. I don't know whether that's ok, but I it's best avoided.
It should be dark in color and sturdy. It should have nice handles that are comfortable to grip (I think those round buttons aren't well designed). If it has rounded edges and corners that's a plus, but if that's hard to find it's not that important. If it's environmentally friendly, that's a plus.

I would appreciate any suggestions regarding the above.

Ahhh! You left out two important criteria! Budget and size of the chest. You have an entirely different selection criteria if you only want to spend $ 500 on the chest than you do if you budget $ 3,000.

You can start by reading this thread:

http://www.myfurnitureforum.com/show...18-Wood-Basics

Then go here:

http://www.myfurnitureforum.com/show...-of-Two-Chests

ABC Carpet and Home is one of the better stores in NYC......

My budget is about $500, but if I really like it, I'll see if I can change that. I don't know what size it should be exactly. If it's not too big, it's fine. Let's say 80 cm deep, 80 cm wide, 130 cm high.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by nnbc1

My budget is about $500, but if I really like it, I'll see if I can change that. I don't know what size it should be exactly. If it's not too big, it's fine. Let's say 1 m deep, 1 m wide, 1.5 m high.

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http://newyork.craigslist.org/mnh/fuo/2922196211.html

I changed the dimensions to smaller ones. The width could still be 1 m but I think the depth and height ought to be smaller so I can comofortably reach within it. Also I'd prefer to buy from manufacturer, not used.

Thanks for quick replies, now reading your links.