He needs to see the laminate in person. If he hasn't seen the laminate you like, then what he's hating isn't laminate, but the idea of laminate. You can't fight an idea. Or that is, the only way you can fight an idea is with reality. Take him to see the laminate you like. Also, check out wooden counters some more. If you have Waterlox or something like that on it, as opposed to just oiling them, there's absolutely no possible water issue. We had birch plywood counters in our last place, and based on their feel and appearance they must have had Waterlox or some equivalent on them. We never had the slightest problem with them. They were really nice--very pretty, not loud when things dropped, not cold, and I cleaned them with whatever I wanted (Lysol, etc., anything as long as it's not too abrasive). We're almost certainly going to do wood in this remodel--either solid wood or furniture-grade plywood. The other cool thing about wood is that you can stain them and thus have any color you want but still have the movement of the grain. No wood stain is food safe, but if you're putting Waterlox on top of it, you don't need food safe. And of course, the other cool thing about wood is that it's cheaper than stone, and plywood in particular is much cheaper.

I've got SS for most of the perimeter counter-tops, marble for the coffee bar and island. Both are great, I would use either or both again. Pick what you like and don't worry about it. IMO granite is everywhere, doesn't mean it's not great just everywhere, I tend to buck trends but try and one up them. Doesn't always work out but I would never 'follow' just because the bus goes that way. It's the folks who step out a bit that tend to inspire the rest of us to look beyond the norm. I'm starting to think that conceptually the 'kitchen' itself is a bit played out. It's becoming more and more the focal point of the home but is still carrying a lot of dated ideas and norms. I'm waiting for the person to come along w/a whole new concept of the cooking/gathering environ and how it relates to the rest of the living space. I haven't completely wrapped my head around the possibilities but it's interesting thinking.

It must depend on the region and the fabricator. In my area, you pay for the slab, not the s.f. We did 27" counters (plus the 1-1/4" overhang). Our kitchen is small, one slab was all we needed. We paid for the slab, regardless that the counters were deeper or not. The fabrication was not extra either. If you need more than one slab, again, you'll pay for the slabs, regardless of the depth of your counters. Also, when you said "30 inches" did you include the overhang in that 30"? If not, when you include the overhang, you will actually be getting 31-1/4" deep counters. I think you will see extra costs in your cabinetry, not your countertops. You will need to make your upper cabinets deeper too. If you go with the standard uppers' 12" depth, it will be difficult to reach into them when you have to reach over a 30" counter. Get 15" deep uppers. But it's actually a great thing to have deeper uppers. The standard 12" uppers barely hold dishes, and if you are getting framed cabinets (instead of frameless), the 12" deep uppers may not be big enough for your dishes. Go for 15" deep uppers and you will be very happy. So your increased costs will be in your cabinetry, not so much in your stone. It will be more costly to get the non-standard depth uppers. Having said that, you may want to think about, for your base cabinets, staying with 24" deep cabinets and simply pull them away from the wall. That's what we did. The reason is that if you have very deep base cabinets, it may be difficult to reach into the back of them. If you are getting base cabinet drawers, a 30" depth will be very costly in drawers because they will need to be constructed to maintain their integrity even with that depth.

Yes, the edge can hang down further than typical. We have 3/4" plywood on top of the cabinets, that the mitre edge covers. The mitre face can be any height you specify, but yes, you need a plan (dimensions of cabinet face/frame or other means of lifting the stone) for the bottom of the mitre edge to clear drawers/doors in cabinet face. Instead of a "stacked" edge with a visible seam running through the edge of the countertop, mitre of the edge puts that seam in the "corner" where it is essentially invisible.