Weddingbee boards

I personally think your photographer is trying to be shady.  

I have done A LOT of reading and researching about albums and companies and options.  Flushmounts are a current trend, but they are photos printed on real photographic paper and mounted directly onto a cardboard-like core.  The pages lay flat and either have a slight fold in the middle or a small gutter.  These are great because the photographic paper means that it is a higher quality print (possibly lasting up to 100 years depending on how they are maintained) and allow no loss of image in the center seam because of how they are mounted.  They also are more sturdy than regular book-pages because they can't tear or fold easily.

Coffee-table style books usually refers to the style of books like MyPublisher, Blurb, Kodak, etc. There are high quality printers that also print magazine-style books, so your photog may not be talking about getting it printed by one of those types of companies, but generally, these types of books are still press-printed (not on photographic paper), with image loss in the center binding (so no 2-page spreads). Even if they are being printed by the same company, the magazine-style pages are much less expensive, so you would not be getting the same value if you already prepaid for a "book".  

If you would prefer the coffee table style, that is fine, and yes, that is definitely a common style of book.  But it's more common because it's WAY less expensive and easier to obtain than the flushmount album.  If the flushmount is what you want, then you should definitely insist upon it.  If your photog is new to the flushmount process and needs suggestions for companies, he could try Blackriver Imaging (split-pages only) or Finao (folded or split pages).  Both have amazing print quality.   

Also, Black River Imaging has a super fast turnaround time.  Assuming he has the files ready to go, you could submit and have your book in about a week!