I guess i'm one of those people too, i like to have control over my own code, like to do things "my way" etc.

What i would like, is something like the Zend Framework, that only works as an external library, so you can still use your standard core functionality.

I.e, i would prefer to use my own templating system, and module functionality how the urls are done etc.

I'm not well informed of how the zend framework, works but the cakePHP framework takes so much off your hands i just don't like it.