Generally I'll go with something like this for these conditional search based queries

    select id, blah, boo
    from products
    where 1
    and (title like :title} or if(:title = '', false, true))
    and (price <= :price_range or if(:price_range = -1, false, true) 
    limit :limit
    offset :offset
    

Its a trade off, bit of extra complexity in the query for simpler code logic. Really, I avoid using sql for these types of "search" / find methods, they're probably going to be slow as hell as soon as you get a sizable data set.

I really despise orm's its essentially taking a black box (sql/database) and throwing it inside a much less tested, less optimized, less documented black box.

For what reason, I have no idea, nobody has ever been able to convince me there is a problem that needs solving. Almost every argument i've heard amounts to problems sql already solved a decade ago. I can only speculate but I'll hazard a guess it comes down to lack of enthusiasm to really learn sql properly (even though the person uses it / debugs it daily)