+1 for redbean - most of my colleagues hate it, but I've found it's a good balance between getting rid of a lot of boilerplate, but not getting in the way when I need straight SQL.

Came here to say this. RedBeanPHP is a great ORM with several advantages over stuff like Doctrine:

* it doesn't require you to learn new language. The API is very simple

* it encourages using SQL when needed. Need to add a special WHERE query? No problem. You want to make a custom select? Just use R::get() method

* it doesn't alter your scheme more than it should. There is only one rule - linked table names (m:n relations) use an underscore. That's it.