I too thought shutters would block out too much light, but the look when fitted is so lovely, and with wider size slats, the more light they let in. The pics below have small slats but its the same style of bay with shutters. Also don't have the push rods on the front if you want a cleaner look. Having the slats split so top/bottom open separately like pic below is also good if you want privacy without shutting out light from the top. High gloss shutters also reflect light into the room and shutters seem to go with any look, period or contemporary.

I'd amend the kitchen slightly first. The Fridge Freezer would maybe be better integrated, putting one free standing object in looks a little untidy. Plus, remove the end display sloped corner unit from the left side (very old fashioned ), Put in more units to match where the Fridge Freezer comes to on the opposite side. The kitchen doesn't line up across, the right side is longer with the fridge freezer than the left. Also, putting cupboards over fridge freezers makes them awkward to get to and you may not be able to reach over the height of it to get to the cupboard. Hopefully that's just a 'concept design' and the colours, tiles, worktop can be worked on. The floor tiles are all wrong for colour of the kitchen, plus they're a very old fashioned size. If you want a comment on the dining area, then you'd need to show a plan of where that is in relation to the kitchen, the dimensions etc.

Hi Emily and Jonathan! Thanks so much for the feedback. Emily - I didn't manage to attach the image that shows the new parking we'd have - see new picture I've just uploaded above of a birds eye view with additional hardstanding driveway in the front garden. - thanks for the vote re tall narrow west window! I'm coming round to the idea though my husband is unpersuaded and thinks will interfere with furniture too much. I think one in the corner just before the family room could work really well. Jonathan - yes the kitchen hasn't really been designed at all yet, the architectural technicians just showed the hob and sink for a rough idea that that area is the kitchen. But we can do what we like with the space really. There are already 2 sets of patio doors on the back of the house though so I think we can't really justify a third! (It might not be clear on the plans but the dining room ends in a modern glass box with heat resistant glass and within-the-upvc-double-glazing-blinds, which includes patio doors ?bifold depending on budget. Then the snug has more standard patio type doors and will probably be the main back garden route.) - generally I think we'd err towards a peninsula rather than an island, not for any real reason just tend to prefer the look of them. So probably a peninsula with a couple of bar stools, coming from the garden side of the room at the junction of the kitchen / dining area, and finishing where the island ends now. Think @Emily sounds like I haven't explained myself very well re eventual layout with train room - see attached jpeg to see what it will end up as (we haven't got the plans drawn this way for planning application, but the aim is to end up with this at the end of the works).

In my opinion an extractor is invaluable to limit cooking smells in your home. You could put the hob under the extractor vent. You could put industrial style overhead ducting to connect an extractor between the windows to the vent. You could have a deeper worktop and a pop up extractor. You could continue the boxing for the extractor vent above the windows to allow you to have an extractor elsewhere. This is what I would do. I would also consider if it is better to put the kitchen in the left hand corner where there are no windows and to move the sink to allow a dining area close to the main door.