Studying openings

I am wondering how to best get some opening repertoire going. 

I have a couple of books about openings and generally they go to move 10-11 by explaining the concepts of the opening and ideas behind some variatiens. After that they show some games from move 11 onwards to show how such games goes. 

This is all fine and well however on my level (+/- 1100) I notice that I never ever reach move 11 of a proper opening. When I analyze games in Fritz, I see usually a message after move 6 "last book move" 

This propbably means that people at my level have some basic understanding of opening but not deep understanding. 

Because of this, I am wondering if I should really study an opening until move 10 or isn't it better to study different openings until move 6. 

I'm trying to learn the concepts and not just memorizing the moves so if that works, after move 6 I should be able to come up with some ok moves against an opponent of my strenght. 

Only if I get better and my ratings goes up, then I can focus on learning some openings in more depth. 

Would this approach be ok or should I stick with learning an opening all the way through?

I would focus primarily on learning the ideas behind an opening rather than memorizing moves because otherwise, your opponent will inevitably do something different in the opening and you won't have a clue how to proceed in the game. Pick a few openings you like then stick to them and learn the ideas behind them. That way, you'll be prepared regardless of what your opponent throws at you.

That's actually what I'm saying... Every opening has different ideas behind them but if after move 6 you deviate moves which aren't contributing to the general idea of the opening, I have to rely on principles to find good moves. 

Currently I don't know that many opening, basically just one (Italian game) but the books I'm reading give a good overview of different openings and their concepts. 

At the moment, I struggle if someone plays the sicilian against my 1.e4 and because I only know the idea behind the Italian (controling the centre) that's what I'm doing but often I run into positional problems because black is countering this. 

If black plays 1...e6 against my e4 opening, I play d4 because that's in line with the major concept I know from the opening "controlling the centre" 

Other openings are more focussed on position, development, opening up the centre,... 

In order to grasp the ideas behind an opening, you have to study its moves, that does not mean I will memorize them, but I need to see the normal lines and some variatiens in order to understand the concepts so if I play against an opening who plays such an opening, I know how to play and if they play a different type of move, I will be able to position that move and evaluate it based upon the idea of the current opening so I can counter it and perhaps punish a move that does not align with the opening. 

For someone seeking help with openings, I usually bring up Openings for Amateurs by Pete Tamburro (2014).

http://kenilworthian.blogspot.com/2014/05/review-of-pete-tamburros-openings-for.html

Even if you do not like his specific recommendations, they might at least give you a feeling as to what you would like to try next. Perhaps one would want to supplement with Discovering Chess Openings by GM John Emms (2006).

https://web.archive.org/web/20140627114655/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen91.pdf

My advice is simple; choose some opening variations and start playing them consistently. As you study, play, and analyse these variations your understanding of them will improve over time.

The answer to your question is yes, the approach of learning the ideas and not the lines is okay. Learning a lot of specific lines at your level is not.

The best way of me explaining to you why the above is true is that most people about your level who come on this forum and ask about learning openings overwhelmingly recieve the same response: don't learn opening lines. For the most part, these people hadn't even considered that option, let alone come to the conclusion that it was best all on their own like you have.

I actually advise that you study openings even less than you propose.

"... a good opening book can open up new vistas that you would probably not discover for yourself. ... I feel that the main reasons to buy an opening book are to give a good overview of the opening, and to explain general plans and ideas. ..." - GM John Nunn (2006)

Pete Tamburro wrote his 2014 book, Openings for Amateurs, saying that it was for "club players." ("... the outside boundaries for the group will be defined here as between 1100 and 1900, or people who want to be there.")

http://kenilworthian.blogspot.com/2014/05/review-of-pete-tamburros-openings-for.html

Try www.365chess.com Opening Explorer.