You’re really going to have to bite the bullet and get sample books from several different vendors to see what meets your personal standard for “coffee table-worthy”.

I say this because I’ve seen people recommend services like Printique many times on here and they’re almost always well received. But for me, Printique books look and feel really cheap, more like a magazine with a flimsy cover that aspires to be a hardcover.

I’ve tried over a dozen photo book makers over the years. WHCC is the one I stick with. It’s not the absolute highest quality available but it fits my price/quality ratio. I have some WHCC books that are about fifteen years old if I’m not mistaken. They have not degraded.

Word of advice for photo books, don’t go with glossy pages. There’s a fair chance they’ll adhere to each other slightly over time.