I've gone 1x11 on both FS mountain bike, Fat bike, and my wife's HT.
Good affordable option is the SLX shifter and RD with a Sunrace 11 speed cassette. I find 11-46 cassette is all I ever need for mountain biking.
I never really hated front derailleurs, but now that wide range cassettes are available, I just don't see the point of 2x on my MTBs.