Map a tool to the movement it serves
Make one ordinary breakfast or dinner and notice each time you cross the kitchen for a familiar tool. If the spoon lives beside the plates but you use it beside the stove, try moving it closer to that work. Choose by actual movement rather than putting everything that looks alike together.
Test access with the cupboard in use
Try the arrangement for a week before fitting permanent storage. A left-handed partner or someone who cooks seated may reach differently. Ask both cooks to find the same three tools and see which locations work for both.
A low shelf can look reachable when empty but become awkward once a heavy pot sits at its front. Ask both cooks to take out the tool, use it, and return it. Include the return trip; an arrangement that works only while someone else puts things away will soon drift.
Keep the change small and reversible
Move one group, tell the other cook, and try it through several meals. If the new place saves one person's steps but interrupts the other's work, keep looking. Leave occasional tools outside the prime work area unless moving them makes them impractical to retrieve. A useful kitchen layout follows the people who use it.