Those drain cleaners are extremely corrosive and can burn a hole through metal pipes (and also pit/marr the smooth surface on the inside of the pipes giving grease, hair and other crud something to hang on to thus causing clogs).
From the sounds of it you are in an older NYC building so you may want to check under your sink to see what's there. IIRC PVC piping resists that type of corrosion much better (I was just starting to really learn REAL plumbing when I had to quit my career in contracting due to a borked out body so don't quote me on that). Still there is likely older soild stacks/pipes and stuff that the drain cleaners can damage... and it ain't so great for the environment either (if that's something you worry about).
My meandering point is that just dumping some boiling water down there every now and again (especially after washing any greasy stuff) is easy regular drain maintenance and having a plunger and drain snake to break up any clogs that accumulate (like if you notice things not draining immediately get the snake in there to break things up then plunge it away THEN pour some boiling water down) keeps drains free flowing and happy.
That finicky, poorly installed kitchen drain I was referring to earlier was actually an old copper one that had been exposed to drain cleaner so often a hole busted open and we had nasty black sludge all over the place (which is what would back up into the sink all over the dishes too if we didn't maintain the drain regularly).
It was SICK and I'm not entirely unconvinced their wasn't human excrement involved.
Ugh... I'm on the verge of gagging just remembering it.
lulz