Hold on! Not all particulates are equally harmful - and by far!
A particulate sensor detects water vapor or particles of (non-burnt) cooking oil that are harmless to humans.
In the same way, it detects very dangerous (carcinogenic) compounds from combustion engines or burning coal or wood.
Cooking is in no way "insanely bad" (unless you are grilling your food black or cooking on an open wood/coal fire)
>“We know that inhaling particles, regardless of what they’re made of, is detrimental to health. Is it equally bad as inhaling exhaust from vehicle emissions? That we don’t know that yet,” [1]
Regardless, my sensor, at least, doesn't register water vapor as particulate. I can run an ultrasonic humidifier with distilled water to no effect on the measured PM2.5, or with tap water which will spike the particulates from the dissolved minerals.
1) https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/feb/17/cooking-...
"Natural gas and propane stoves can release carbon monoxide, formaldehyde and other harmful pollutants into the air, which can be toxic to people and pets."
https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/resources/documents/indoor-air-pollut...
"Gas stoves can generate unsafe levels of indoor air pollution"
https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2020/5/7/21247602...
Also, the dangers of open flames are well known, unlike the ones of particulate.
I have no idea what the particles are though -- metal? Paint? Carbon from burnt residue? Or just whatever the heating element itself is made of?
Separately, cooking with gas (oven+stove) also sends CO2 way way up -- in my kitchen, from 500 to 1300 or so within 20 minutes. And that's with my range hood on.
Not saying that's the case here, but several times I thought the range fan was exhausting the air, only to learn upon examination that it was just shooting it back out into the same room.
Our current place has a proper kitchen, but the cooker hood vents outside directly next to the central heating boiler's intake.
You can't exactly throw the toaster oven in the sink and scrub the inside surfaces with steel wool and Barkeeper's Friend under running water like you can with pots and pans. Nor do toaster ovens have a "self-cleaning" cycle where you try to just vaporize it all... they simply don't get hot enough.