Two thoughts. The first is that the laminate floor will never match the rest of the flooring if you remove it later. The second would be to consider a stove that only needs ember protection (no r-value), which might be more handy if you are going to relocate the stove to a future unkown location.
The stove was already ordered so that ship has sailed. As for the floor, that's a good point. I hadn't even considered the floor matching if/when the stove comes out. I will say that I don't know if the stove will ever move. I was just trying to avoid pulling up flooring to keep that option available. Hmmmm......
I did order the Micore. I'm pretty well set on 3/4" plywood, Durock, Micore, Durock, tile. That should keep the process relatively simple (I hope) and give me an R-value around 1.8 not including the thinset or the tile. Regardless, I'm committed now so wish me luck!