Are you familiar with Kelly Take-Offs? They're aluminum shifter mounts that I think were developed for cyclocross. They put your shifters just inboard of your brake levers. They sell for $40 a set or less, and will work with pretty much any road brake lever you want to use. (Kelly Bikes makes and sells them, but they look like they may be winding up affairs. They're currently selling take-offs through their ebay store, for $40, BIN + $7.50 ship.)

I've been using "brifters" since the early 90s, but about a year ago, I set up my commuter - an old Diamondback touring bike - with 8-speed indexed shifters on Kelleys. I now prefer them by far to the "integrated" options from the better-known names. From any position on the bars, I can reach the shifters without removing my hands from that position. They can be reached from the tops, from the hoods, from deep in the hooks or back on the drops. The only shift that's not easy is a downshift with my hands in drops/hooks. But if I'm in that positon and need to downshift, it usually means I'm also going to come up the hoods or the tops for some climbing.