Large-scale wind and solar power integration are likely to cause a short-term mismatch between generation and load demand because of the intermittent nature of the renewables. System frequency is therefore challenged. In recent years, it has been proposed that a part of the residential load can be controlled for frequency regulation with little impact on customer comfort. This paper proposes a thermostatic load control strategy for primary and secondary frequency regulation, in particular, using heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning units and electric water heaters. First, daily demand profile modeling indicates that these two loads are complementary in the daytime and can provide a relatively stable frequency reserve. Second, the progressive load recovery is specifically considered in the control scheme. The random switching and cycle recovery method is proposed for mitigating power rebound after switching the air conditioners on again. The proposed control strategy can organize a large population of thermostatic loads for the provision of a frequency reserve. Consequently, the requirement of a spinning reserve is reduced. Finally, the proposed control strategy is verified by the dynamic simulation of IEEE RTS 24-bus system.