I would say no matter what you decided to do for gearing I would focus on what the resultant gear inches would be. You can find a calculator on Sheldon Brown's website. As far as XT components go, take care not to use a Dynasys rear derailleur if you're using road shifters. Otherwise you'll be good.

I'm building up a Soma right now and doing a deore triple (48/44/26) and 10spd in the back (11-36) with an XT derailleur. Gives me 20-119 gear inches.